Blue Whale suicide game hits Joburg

A warning has been issued by a trauma counsellor after the Blue Whale game recently surfaced in Gauteng, Pretoria East Rekord reports.

The warning followed after a Facebook post went viral by a mother in Johannesburg, who discovered her son had been playing the Blue Whale game.

The Blue Whale suicide game is an online application that encourages people to kill themselves.

Daily tasks are assigned to members, which they have to complete over a period of 50 days. The horrific tasks include self-harm, watching horror movies and waking up at unusual hours, but these tasks gradually become more extreme.

On day 50, the controlling manipulators behind the game reportedly instruct the youngsters to commit suicide after deleting their messages.

READ MORE: New online suicide game Blue Whale may soon be available in SA

Joyce Jacobs, who works in emergency services, chaplaincy and trauma support, says the big danger behind the game is that it targets vulnerable teenagers.

“The real danger behind the game is that it is a mind-programming game, working over 50 assignments to get teenagers through food and sleep deprivation and messaging in horror movies, to submit because by then they do not have the ability any more to think clearly,” she said.

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– Caxton News Service