Question : Dangerous Games Online

Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state:-
(a) the steps taken by the Government to prevent the teenagers from playing the dangerous online games like Blue Whale and such other games, to impose a ban on such games and issue advisories to schools, colleges in this regard;
(b) whether the Government is aware that such games are still available online;
(c) if so, whether the Government has prepared a list of such games and if so, the details thereof;
(d) whether there are appropriate provisions in the current Information and Technology Act to punish the administrators and intermediary institutions through which the said games reach its users;
(e) if so, the details thereof; and
(f) if not, the steps taken to amend the said Act?

(a) to (f): There had been media reports about alleged suicides/ attempted suicides due to dangerous online game like Blue Whale and Momo Challenge Game. Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 provides for certain due diligence to be followed by Intermediaries failing which they would be liable. The Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 notified under section 79 of the Act, inter alia, specifies that the intermediaries shall inform the users of computer resource not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information that is grossly harmful, harms minor in any way; violates any law for the time being in force; etc. Law Enforcement Agencies monitor the social media sites and take action under existing legal provisions for removal of malicious contents/materials and prosecuting the offenders.

Government has issued guidelines for Safe and Effective Use of Internet and Digital Technologies to all Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools vide circular dated. 18.08.2017. Further, Government had issued advisories on online dangerous games including on “Blue Whale Challenge Game” and also “Momo Challenge Game”. Minister, MWCD wrote to principals of all the schools to take steps to address the issue of online dangerous games.

MeitY and Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) interacted with service providers of social media regarding the steps to be taken to prevent users from falling prey to harmful online games. Government has asked popular social media sites not to host any such dangerous online games and immediately remove the same as and when detected.

It is also understood that there is no formal Application, website or URL available for downloading/accessing online games like Blue Whale Challenge. Hence, there is little scope for using technical solutions to identify or block the dangerous online games.
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