Man who invented Blue Whale suicide game says he is 'cleansing society’

The man behind a sick game that provokes children to commit suicide has stated that he is “cleansing society”.

Philipp Budeikin invented the social media craze called Blue Whale, which brainwashes vulnerable teenagers into carrying out various tasks over a period of 50 days, including self-harming and waking up at odd hours.

At the end of that period, the exhausted and confused teenagers are told to commit suicide.

Budeikin, from Russia, is being held on charges of inciting at least 16 schoolgirls to kill themselves after they took part in his ‘game’.

The 21-year-old has apparently confessed to his crimes, telling police he sees his victims as “biological waste” and that he was “cleansing society” of the girls, who he claims were “happy to die”.

He told police: “They were dying happy. I was giving them what they didn’t have in real life: warmth, understanding, connections…

“There are people – and there is biological waste. Those who do not represent any value for society. Who cause or will cause only harm to society.

“I was cleaning our society of such people.”

He added: “It was necessary to distinguish normal [people] from biological rubbish.”

Disturbingly, Buedikin has a team of ‘mentors’ who are tasked to work on the vulnerable teenagers before they are urged to kill themselves.

Anton Breido, a senior official from Russia’s Investigative Committee, said that Budeikin began groups in 2013 to attract thousands of children before working on manipulating the more vulnerable individuals.

He explained: “They gathered the children, then offered simple tasks which for some children were too boring or weird to complete.

“These ones were clearly too strong to be manipulated.

“Those who stayed were given much stronger tasks like cutting their veins, to balance on a roof top, to kill an animal and post a video or pictures to prove it. Most children left at this stage.

“A small group that was left who obediently went through all the tasks, with teenagers being physiologically ready to follow whatever the administrators told them, no matter how strange or scary the tasks.

“They felt their position in the group was so precious that did literally everything to stay in.”

At this point the mentors would coax members into killing themselves by waking them up in the middle of the night to make them more confused and susceptible to instructions.

There are fears that the game will spread to the UK, with one Essex school informing parents to monitor social media accounts following talks with police.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116 123, 24 hours a day. You can also visit a local Samaritans branch – see www.samaritans.org for details.

Top pic: YouTube