TRA: Blue Whale not available in UAE
The deadly Blue Whale game — allegedly responsible for numerous cases of suicide worldwide — is not available in the UAE.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) in the UAE said that it has been keeping a close watch for any sign of the Blue Whale game, and confirmed that it does not exist on online platforms in the UAE. The announcement comes a couple of days after
Gulf News reported the deaths of two Filipino students, ages 15 and 16, in suicides.
Sources close to the students are linking the death of the second victim to the controversial Blue Whale suicide challenge, although police have yet to confirm or deny this.
Both were grade 10 students of the United International Private School in Muhaisnah. In response to allegations by concerned parents and media reports, the TRA explained that any app or website that is found to incite harm or suicide is immediately blocked.
The TRA also explained that harmful sites and apps are blocked according to the authority’s internet access policy, and according to Category 7 of the Prohibited Content Categories, content of apps and websites are blocked if they contain material that:
“Provokes, calls for, promotes or provides information about how to carry out acts of crime or felony or contributes to or facilitates carrying out or supporting the same such as theft, fraud, robbery, forgery, faking, bribery, killing, suicide, blackmail, threat, rape, commercial cheating and breaching the properties of others, abduction, evasion from application of law, money laundry, smuggling prohibited content and other crimes punishable by the law.” The TRA urged to the public to report any app or online social groups that matches the description of the Blue Whale game to contact them on 800 12 or to call the police on 901.
The game, created by a Russian now in jail, is believed to have been inspired by a blue whale species that appears to commit suicide by purposefully beaching itself ashore.
The Blue Whale game is reportedly an online social media group where administrators ask vulnerable teens to do self-harm and eventually kill themselves. The notorious game was banned in Egypt since the beginning of April after the top Islamic body Dar Al Iftaa prohibited the online suicide game, days after the death of a prominent man’s son was linked to the game.