The #BlueWhale Challenge to the Indian Judiciary: A Critical Analysis of the Response of the Indian Higher Judiciary to Risky Online Contents with Special Reference to the BlueWhale Suicide Game

Abstract

Since July 2017, shocking reports of suicides of teenagers and young adults started surfacing in Indian news media. These were unique because of their possible links with the notorious BlueWhale challenge, an online game, offering a 50 step challenge including suicide. The Madras High Court was the first High Court in India to take cognizance of the matter suo motu. Immediately after it, other High Courts in India were also approached by social cause lawyers through public interest litigations with similar prayers to direct the government and public stakeholders, including the intermediaries and website companies, to take preventive steps against the BlueWhale game. The multiplicity of the public interest litigations motivated the Supreme Court of India to take up the matter as one single matter, and it directed other High Courts not to deal with it to avoid a multiplicity of judicial responses. The case covered a tussle between the emotional intelligence of young people and the artificial intelligence used by the administrators and group members of the game to reach the teenagers and young adults and “trap” them in this dangerous game. This chapter analyses how the judges have responded to the issue and concludes with suggestions for sensitising the higher judiciary regarding the legal-technological issues involved in online games which may prove extremely dangerous for women and children. Finally, the chapter outlines the need for stricter judicial decision-making attitudes towards the liability of foreign hosted Internet service providers.