“The Blue Whale Game” or “The Blue Whale Challenge” is a viral internet
challenge from 2016 that involves completing a series of tasks over a period of
fifty days, which allegedly led hundreds of teenagers to commit suicide.
The Blue Whale Challenge.
Death groups.
In 2016, an article in Novaya Gazeta, a well-known Russian opposition
newspaper, reported on the existence of so-called “death groups” that had
apparently been created on the social media platform VK. Closed groups
that romanticized depression and suicide.
Driven by parents’ fears and media sensationalism, the report spread across
borders. In 2017, countries in Latin America (such as Brazil, Colombia,
Mexico, and Chile), Europe, and Asia began reporting suspected cases and
issuing police alerts in schools.
Rules.
It was in these groups that the online challenge known as “The Blue Whale
Game” first appeared. In this challenge, an online curator (leader) assigns
players daily tasks and requires them to submit photographic proof that they
have completed each one, while keeping their communication private.
It is said that the challenges begin at 4:20 a.m. and vary in intensity. Some
start with simple tasks, such as drawing a blue whale on a piece of paper.
Challenges may also include watching horror movies all night long or secretly
cutting themselves. It has been reported that the curator asks the teenagers
to scout out the location of their deaths in advance as one of the challenges.
In some cases, the young people go to the top of a tall building, or in others
to a train station. Each task becomes more risky, and on day 50, players are
told they must commit suicide.
The origin of the game's name.
It is believed that the game's name comes from the fact that whales often
strand themselves and die on beaches, a phenomenon that has puzzled
scientists. Others say it is a reference to the lyrics of a Russian rock band
called Lumen.
Creator of the game.
According to the information revealed, the creator of the Blue Whale game was
a 21-year-old psychologist named Philip Budeikin. According to the Russian
state news agency RIA Novosti, he was arrested in November 2016. Authorities
at the St. Petersburg District Court confirmed in a press release that an
investigation is underway into charges of “incitement to suicide.” The press
release from the Investigative Committee states that Budeikin confessed to
creating the game and using the social media site VK.com to encourage at least
15 teenagers to commit suicide.
In chilling interviews, Budeikin claimed that his victims were “biological
waste” and that his goal was to “clean up society.” He was sentenced to more
than three years in prison for inciting minors to commit suicide.
Copycats.
In June 2017, Ilya Sidorov, a 26-year-old mail carrier, was arrested in Russia
after confessing that he was another administrator who had encouraged minors
to self-harm. Sidorov began by encouraging a 13-year-old girl from the village
of Yetkul (in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region) to cut her arm, eventually ordering
her to jump in front of a train.
When the girl became frightened and refused to do it, Sidorov began to
threaten her. He told her that he had traced her IP address and would send
hitmen to kill her parents if she didn’t comply.
When he saw that the girl wasn't jumping, he changed his tactics and demanded
money in exchange for sparing her family's lives. The girl suffered a nervous
breakdown and was hospitalized, which allowed the police to confiscate her
devices and track down the mailman digitally.
In September 2018, a Russian court found him guilty of inciting minors to
commit suicide and extortion. He was sentenced to three years in a
low-security penal colony.
Cybersecurity reports from early 2025 indicate that, after serving his
sentence, Sidorov allegedly joined cybercrime networks in Europe (linked to
the company ZServers/XHost), where he provided servers for illicit
activities and cryptocurrency transactions.
Rina Palenkova suicide.
On November 22, 2015, Rina Palenkova, a teenager living in southeastern
Russia, posted an offensive selfie showing her bloodied middle finger to the
camera with the caption “goodbye.” The next day, the internet was flooded with
articles about the teenager's suicide, which was immediately linked to the
controversial challenge.
Following the death of Rina Palenkova, Novaya Gazeta reported that, over a
six-month period, 130 teenage suicides might be linked to the game, as nearly
all the victims were part of the same online group. However, it was later
noted that only 80 of these cases could be verified, leading the newspaper to
face criticism for exaggerating numbers that could not be definitively linked
to the game.
Because of all the buzz that Rina Palenkova’s suicide caused online, her death
is often cited as the first known case of a suicide linked to the Blue Whale
Challenge. However, this has never been officially confirmed.
