Chinese student charged with ‘extremism’ over Blue Whale suicide game chat group
Authorities across the country on the alert over the spread of the game, which has been linked with teen deaths worldwide
A 17-year-old student in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, has been arrested and charged with “spreading extremism” over a chat group he ran about the Blue Whale online game that encourages players to harm themselves or even commit suicide.
State television reported on Wednesday that the student ran an online chat group with 500 members. He told the police that he had uploaded photos and information about the game to the group, but that a comment he posted offering congratulations to 11 players on completing Blue Whale tasks was false and just an attempt to gain attention.
The Blue Whale game, which has attracted the attention of authorities worldwide, involves “administrators” setting “challengers” a series of tasks to be completed in a certain time.
The tasks can start off being relatively harmless, for example watching horror movies for long hours or waking up at unusual times, but gradually become more extreme, often ending up with participants being asked to kill themselves.
The game is believed to have originated in Russia and has been linked to many teen deaths globally.