Blue Whale Challenge
Reports of an online challenge encouraging self-harm spread internationally in 2016 and 2017. Researchers could trace the spread of the reports more readily than their connection to individual deaths.
News coverage described anonymous people using private messages to pressure teenagers into self-harm. Police investigated individual reports, and the story spread well beyond the countries where it first attracted attention.
Researchers who traced public posts found that discussion crossed borders and languages. Their study measured where and when the story circulated. It could not establish that a single organized game was behind the reports or determine the cause of individual deaths.
A related topic is Momo Challenge Hoax.
Bibliography:
- Sumner, S. A., et al. (2019). Temporal and geographic patterns of social media posts about an emerging suicide game. Journal of Adolescent Health, 65(1), 94–100.
— Research