Egypt telecoms regulator says ban on ‘Blue Whale’ suicide game currently impossible

(Blue Whale game internet photo)

• The game, created in Russia in 2013, has been linked to several suicide reports in European and Arab countries
• Complete ban 'impossible' an official at the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority says

CAIRO: A complete ban on “Blue Whale,” an online game linked to several suicides worldwide, is technically not possible, Egypt’s telecom regulatory has said.
An official at the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority told Al-Ahram newspaper that a ban on the game would be difficult during a meeting at the parliament with the IT committee.
The meeting was intended to discuss requests to ban games of this type.
“A complete ban on suicidal games such as Blue Whale is almost impossible, especially as their makers and senders may send them to users via social networking sites,” explained Hossam Abdel Mawla, a representative at the telecom regulatory.
“The major problem is that these applications are being sent via social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter,” Abdel Mawla said at the meeting.
Abdel Mawla’s appearance before the parliament came after requests by the country’s prosecutor general to ban games like Blue Whale, which is said to have claimed the lives of several youth by leading them to kill themselves.
The telecom regulatory is reportedly looking into ways to ban games of this type.
“There is no country in the world that has found a way to ban such games, and I would be deceiving you if I said we would succeed in Egypt to ban such suicidal websites or applications; yet I promise that we will provide the best that other countries have reached in dealing with similar applications,” Abdel Mawla added.
The game, created in Russia in 2013, has been linked to several suicide reports in European and Arab countries.