Stating that a lot of unverified information was widely being shared through social and mainstream media about the ‘Blue Whale’ game, Madurai Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao said that this was leading to unnecessary panic among youngsters and parents.
Acknowledging that there could be one or two real instances of youngsters playing ‘Blue Whale’ reported across the country, he appealed to the students, teachers, and parents not to believe rumours that tens of youngsters were playing the game in a particular place, which give a misleading perspective that the game was widely prevalent.
Addressing college students and teachers as part of a session organised by the district administration on ‘Confidence building for students over Internet challenges’ here on Tuesday, he highlighted that ‘Blue Whale’ was not a downloadable game like other mobile-based games and it is believed to be coordinated through anonymous ‘administrators’ operating through Internet.
“Hence, it is not an easily accessible ‘game’. The government has also asked all major Internet platforms to block any links that led to the game,” he said.
“Despite all this, if some is playing the game in Madurai district, he or someone related to him can always get immediate attention from the police and district administration by contacting the toll-free number 1800 425 2290,” he said.
He also said that a team had been formed at the district-level, comprising of senior police and revenue officials, officials from the Social Welfare department, Health department, District Child Protection Unit, to provide assistance to anyone in distress.
He said that individual colleges have also been asked to organise awareness sessions and form teams of counsellors to help students in distress.
Earlier on Tuesday, an awareness session was organised in Lady Doak College, in which C. Kalavathey, Additional Superintendent of Police, said that the administrators of ‘Blue Whale’ game seemed to target psychologically vulnerable youths.
“There are claims that participants of the ‘Blue Whale’ game are threatened with the release of personal information if they do not meet a task assigned as part of the game of decide to quit in the middle. Such threats need not be taken seriously. You can immediately seek help from the police or other confidantes,” she said.
The students of the college also enacted a skit to show how vulnerable youngsters got trapped in the game and how they could come out.