Prasad added that the Ministry of Home Affairs had constituted a committee to investigate all cases where suicides were committed or attempted allegedly using ‘dangerous online games like Blue Whale challenge’. (File Photo)
The government has asked popular social media sites not to host any dangerous online games like Blue Whale challenge that may put the lives of people at risk, Parliament was informed today. These sites have also been asked to ‘immediately remove’ any such games from their platform, as and when detected, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
“It is also understood that there is no formal application, website or URL, available for downloading/accessing online games like Blue Whale challenge. Hence there is little scope for using technical solutions to identify or
block the dangerous online games,” he said.
Prasad added that the Ministry of Home Affairs had constituted a committee to investigate all cases where suicides were committed or attempted allegedly using ‘dangerous online games like Blue Whale challenge’. “The Committee findings could not establish any involvement of Blue Whale challenge game in any of incidents reported to them,” he added.
The Blue Whale Challenge is an online game, that was first spotted in July last year. Under the game, players were given daily challenges over a period of 49 days, which would lead to the final challenge: killing oneself by carving a blue whale on the hand with a blade. Many teenagers from different parts of the country were found responding to the challenge, which has also resulted in several suicides.