The “Blue Whale” Sometimes Resurfaces: The Phenomena Underlying Nonsuicidal Injury and Suicide Incitement Among Adolescents

The phenomenon of purposeful, self-inflicting acts causing pain or superficial damage, including cutting, burning, biting, or scratching the skin,1 but not intended to cause death, has long been recognized in the literature and classified as nonsuicidal self-injury, as part of the nonsuicidal self-injury disorders in the Statistical and Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders.2 It is especially prevalent during adolescence, with rates as high as 40% reported in some communities.3 The spread of the nonsuicidal self-injury phenomenon has been significantly amplified over the past 2 decades by the availability of numerous web-based social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, which have been attributed to contributing to the propagation of harmful social modeling or inducing the imitation of behaviors that lead to self-inflicted injuries causing bodily harm. Similarly, it is known that direct exposure to suicidal behaviors can trigger the phenomenon of suicide contagion, with an increase in suicidality through imitation and modeling, particularly among adolescents and young adults.4,5 In this case, the role of social media also seems to be relevant in many instances due to their ability, compared with news reported in traditional media, to influence vulnerable individuals, significantly amplifying images and information related to suicides and self-harm, even when describing false or fictional behaviors. In this context, about 10 years ago, the appearance of certain social network games, in their various forms such as “Jonathan Galindo,” “Momo,”, or “Blue Whale,” became known.6,7 These games appear initially innocuous before introducing elements of self-harm and final challenges that require the player to kill themselves. Particularly popular worldwide, the Blue Whale challenge game, which apparently originated in Russia in 2013 on the “VKontakte” social network,8 became a global phenomenon in the following years, only to disappear deceptively from public attention, gradually submerging deeper into the virtual sea of the deep web. News about the Blue Whale challenge and similar deadly games became scarce starting around the early 2000s. However, sporadic reports of unexplained suicides9,10 and evidence suggesting that they may be linked to deadly challenges indicate that Blue Whale is still active in uncontrolled areas of our communities and may resurface from the deep web6 with its trail of death, signaling its ever-present aggression targeting the younger population. The purpose of this commentary, authored by the Working Group on Social Pediatrics of the European Association of Pediatrics and the Union of European National Pediatric Societies and Associations, is to raise awareness among pediatricians and health professionals about this issue and its possible lifelong risks for society. The authors emphasize that pediatricians can play a significant role in advising families and in programs designed to monitor and prevent the negative impacts caused by these self-destructive practices.