ISP challenges government ban on Blue Whale game

NAIROBI, KENYA: Liquid Telecom has challenged government’s purported ban on Blue Whale game blamed for the death of a teenager in Nairobi early this week.

The Internet Service Provider argues that the game banned by The Kenya Film Classification Board, is not a downloadable game.

Liquid says it has conducted its own research into torrent flows, app downloads and network data, and has on Thursday morning confirmed that it can find no evidence of the existence of any such game as a structured, downloadable product that can be classified or banned.

“Blue Whale is not a game in the sense of being a video, or an app, or a website, or any structured product. If it exists, it is an activity, just as ‘Truth or Dare’ has been a ‘game’ played by teenagers over the decades,” said Ben Roberts, the Chief Technical Officer of Liquid Telecom Group and Chairman of Liquid Telecom Kenya.

“As a ‘game’, it may be something that teenagers are doing on social media, setting these dares in groups, or across accounts: but it has no identifiable structure or means of being prevented or blocked by Internet Service Providers.”

The possible adoption by teenagers of the game as an activity has prompted media coverage globally, and rumours that have spanned claims that phones are being attacked by an unbidden app that cannot be deleted and opens the ‘dare’ conversation with the teen phone owner.

“This is completely false,” said Roberts. “Given the reported tragic consequences, out of concern we took it as a leading ISP we should look into this matter extensively.  From our scanning of all apps available via the app stores; and with phones locked to app stores, and able to use third party deletion tools wherever they are jail-broken; we carried out a supplementary search of global torrents, and there is additionally no trace of any such app in global torrents, which leaves no means for any app to be downloaded.”

The main way in which youngsters may be engaging in the Blue Whale challenge, which reportedly sees them complete dares set by a ‘minder’ until the final dare becomes to commit suicide, is through social media. Having joined a ‘death group’, they are reported to be posting pictures of each completed dare, which moves towards self-harm as the game progresses.

Globally, experts have urged friends and family to understand any move to self-harm to be treated as a coping mechanism, and move swiftly to provide help and support for the underlying depression. Worldwide, some 10 to 15 per cent of teenagers go through at least one phase of depression, which can lead to self-harm.

According to leading psychiatrist Dr Frank Njenga, the symptoms of teenage depression include sadness, irritability and anger, isolation and withdrawal, a sense of hopelessness and worthlessness, and declining school performance. Young people often don’t express their depression in a clear way, but can show they are affected by withdrawing or through negative behaviour.