Legislative Assembly of the Leningrad Region

"With children in in social networks work systematically and systematically, step by step pushing us to the final line” – writes Galina Mursalieva in the article “Death Groups”. This text (very long and not very logical) is now being actively discussed on the Internet. Roskomndazor promised check the data.

Parents are in a panic: “We have to do something!” So what to do? Testing children for their attitudes towards whales, which are mentioned as a symbol of some mysterious suicidal organization?

Girls (and boys) with cut hands did not appear yesterday. In my youth, among my friends there was one girl who was nicknamed Suicide. Although, why alone? Were there no such people around you? Groups in which they post information about methods of suicide and discuss details have been known since the beginning of the RuNet, and approximately the same number of people have been fighting these groups. With the advent of social networks and groups, the fight against them has moved to a new level.

Experts who study behavior say that any behavior, even the strangest one, must have a reason, a purpose, a function, a reason why it is all being done.

Galina Mursalieva’s text is based on the assumption that some malicious people, under the guise of a game, lure teenagers into online groups that encourage suicide. Who are these people? After all, someone organizes these strange groups on social networks. Why do they need this? The easiest way is to assume that these are trolls.

Can you imagine a person who comes to a memorial page to write nasty things to the parents of a tragically deceased child or post a mocking photo there with the caption “Mommy, is it hot in hell?” It seems that in RuNet this has not yet come to this, however, we know very little about Russian trolls. Some trace the semantics of the word “trolling” to the ill-mannered monsters of Scandinavian fairy tales, others (most likely the trolls themselves) to a method of fishing. But one way or another, trolling has long been part of Internet life, and this is by no means “good-natured banter.”

Why are they trolling?

We will find the history of the issue in the book “Trololo” by Whitney Phillips, published in Russian translation by Alpina Publisher. In 2008, a young American researcher began to study Internet trolling, which is also a young phenomenon, so the study also became a chronicle of the process, describing its formation.

In the English-speaking space, trolls are a large, self-organizing and self-reproducing community of Internet anonymous people who attack the victim in droves, creating endless “memes” - statements, pictures with captions, angry and offensive collages. Having seen strange dialogues on forums, Whitney Phillips took a closer look and soon began to see meaning and logic in them, and once she saw it, she could no longer “unsee it.”

Why are they trolling? For the sake of the lulz. Lulz is an internet jargon with a history of its own. The word lulz is derived from the distorted English “lol” “laugh out loud” - laugh loudly, out loud. Collecting lulz is, simply put, teasing those from whom you can get a reaction, just like angry kids do at school. Trolls need strong emotions; in their minds, showing emotions means “exposing yourself.” In a perverted understanding of the troll, by bullying a vulnerable victim, he seems to be “teaching” him that he should not talk about something personally significant, demonstrating his vulnerability.

When you read Whitney Phillips, you understand that English-speaking trolls naturally have nothing sacred - what is the cost of mockery on RIP pages (memorial pages), mockery of the grief-stricken relatives of victims of murders and suicides. The fact that trolls separate their online and offline lives is no consolation: they are also werewolves, these trolls and such a handsome man can sit in every office.

Whitney Phillips describes the history of trolls at specific examples, at the beginning of the book the researcher specifically stipulates that she does not want to cite some particularly vile statements even as an example. From a troll's point of view, social networks are the richest reserve of unafraid prey. Whitney Phillips writes that in search of lulz, trolls explore a variety of audiences, using personal information found on the victim’s social networks. One of the trolls found victims in groups where rape victims shared their experiences, others drove animal lovers crazy on thematic forums. Trolls prefer not to demonstrate their emotions, as well as their personal data, hiding behind masks. The researcher describes the moment when one of the trolls found a memorial page of a person he personally knew, and advises its organizers to close the profile in order to thus avoid an invasion of trolls.

While studying trolls, Whitney performed an important research task - she needed to get close enough to the trolls to communicate, observe, interview, but, on the other hand, maintain a distance so that, having understood and described the phenomenon, she would not merge with it. One of the most dramatic moments of the book is that the researcher was invited to talk on the radio about trolls, and the father of a dead boy, on whose page trolls were writing bullying, had to call on the air. The victim's father wants to know what kind of people they are.

This book is worth reading for everyone who spends time on the Internet. This book is not about bad and good people, although about them too, but about how technologies reveal new facets of a person and provide new opportunities - not only for good, unfortunately.

From event to meme

Parents will be the last to know. Who and for what purpose distributed a photo of a pretty girl who looked like an anime heroine, a girl standing on the rails, lying on the rails with her head cut off, and why this stupid phrase “Nya” was stuck to the girl. Bye"?

Story real person reduced to a photograph that became a sign of thematic suicide groups, this is a typical story of an Internet meme.

A couple of lines in the incident report:

A 17-year-old girl committed suicide. The girl was pretty, had a page on a social network, then a photo of the body from the scene of the incident appeared on the Internet from somewhere, someone “screwed” the signature, someone conjectured a couple of facts, the topic went to the people and exists as if on its own, finding fertile ground . Information about the girl Rina and her photo on social networks became a marker for thematic groups. It can be assumed that there are also people who are ready, for the sake of boredom or strange benefits like the already mentioned lulz, to communicate with the target audience who is interested in this topic.

Let’s ask a teenager who hangs out on social networks if he knows what “Nya.Bye” means. And we will hear in response: “This meme is trash, disgusting. Now no one writes about this anymore, and those who wrote before are strange people. This topic has moved away."

I knew one person on the forum, he was something of a local talent, he came up with stories, entire fantasy worlds. And at some point I decided to take my talent to the masses: on a wave of emotions about the suicide of a girl from Ussuriysk, I started a new topic. I don’t know exactly how and why he did this, most likely he was just looking for interesting people, talking about his idea, but he quickly became disillusioned with it and disowned it. The initiative was picked up by third, fourth and fifth people, until everyone got tired of it. For what? They just wanted to have fun, most likely. You won't find the endings anymore.

It all happened like this: a picture about a girl hit by a train leaked into the group. Following the link, you get into a smaller group, and gradually descend into groups with very dubious content, consisting of teenage girls who, on their personal pages, post photographs of hands covered in ketchup with thoughtful captions and many strange hashtags. Using hashtags you can find more photos of hands in ketchup and links to similar groups with mysterious content and meaningful quotes from occult books. At least, this was the case at the beginning of the year; now interest in the topic has subsided. If you are a sad girl with difficulties in personal life, then looking at all this, you may want to cover your hands with ketchup or even really open your veins, take a photo and hashtag the post to please the trolls. If not, you’ll just close the tabs and do something interesting.”

Isn't it true that this mechanism that our interlocutor describes is reminiscent of what Whitney Phillips writes about? But there are hardly any similar studies in Russia. Only those who have such experience know about the life of the Internet and the functioning of its communities in Russia, and it is different for everyone. Abroad, for example, on the English-language Internet, researchers have long separated trolling (manipulation of personal information) from bullying (Internet harassment), which affects mainly teenagers, sometimes leading to suicide. There seems to be nothing like this in RuNet, but there is no research either.

Are there really people online who systematically induce teenagers to commit suicide? The question remains open. There are groups in which suicide is discussed, there are trollsundoubtedly there is, and suicide itself is a viral phenomenon and prone to self-reproduction, so one must be very careful in writing about conclusions drawn from publications on this topic.

The description of a new phenomenon in society, especially youth, often lags behind the phenomenon itself in time and suffers from inaccuracies, adults clutch their heads, teenagers laugh when reading embellished “scientific” descriptions. And such a description can also cause a wave of imitations: many of my friends learned about the existence of “informals” from the press, and when they found out, they immediately joined these informals. I’ll give another example, even less benign: my friend studied at a school on the outskirts of the city, after the release of the film “Scarecrow” they began to play ... “scarecrow”, appointing a victim and humiliating her.

And what will we do now, dear parents and teachers? Catch blue whales blue whales? After all, as a teenager I know tells me, there are #morekits on the Internet.

The story is about thematic groups appeared on the network, the “suicide sect,” on March 11, 2016, in the program “Man and the Law,” but did not cause much public resonance.The TV report, in particular, said that the Investigative Committee for the Ryazan Region had opened a criminal case under the article “Incitement to suicide”but the results of this investigation have not yet been reported.

When covering suicide in the media World organization Health Services (WHO) does not recommend publishing photographs and suicide notes of suicides, reporting methods and other details of suicide. One should not give simplified reasons for what happened and turn suicide into a sensation. When reporting on suicide cases, you should use only genuine and reliable sources of information and refrain from religious and ethnocultural stereotypes. It is especially not recommended to place blame on anyone for what happened.

In 2014 in Russia, the number of child suicides increased by 70% compared to 2013 - 784 minors died voluntarily, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported this with reference to the chapter investigative committee Alexandra Bastrykina.

In July 2015, the head of the Investigative Committee reported that over the five months of 2015, the number of child suicides increased by 28%, with more than 270 cases recorded.

The fact that there has been a sharp surge in the activity of teenagers on social networks, signaling readiness for suicide. Why children so easily get involved in a deadly game, why their instinct of self-preservation does not work, and what oddities in their behavior parents should pay attention to, Izvestia correspondent Andrei Filatov was told by Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor, psychotherapist and psychiatrist Mikhail Baryshev.

One of the girls who communicated with the curator of the “death group” gave us a list of tasks for 50 days, after completing which she had to kill herself. How do these tasks affect the psyche of adolescents? Let's start with this: "Wake up at 4.20 and watch scary videos."

This is sleep deprivation (sleep deprivation is a lack or complete lack of satisfaction of the need for sleep. It can occur as a result of sleep disorders, conscious choice, or forced, during torture and interrogation. - Izvestia). The child hasn’t gotten enough sleep, watches scary videos, it’s frightening, physiological stress is superimposed on the stress from what he sees, defense is suppressed. The Americans actively use this torture - the prisoner is not allowed to sleep for up to 180 hours, destroying his psyche. Here, a teenager is woken up in the deepest phase of sleep and then told to watch scary content - this breaks the mental defense mechanisms.

Other tasks require you to cut yourself or make a drawing of a whale. At first glance, there is nothing dangerous in the drawing of a whale, is there?

It is an act of acceptance into the community and a vow of obedience to the sacrifice. If the child does not do this, he will be rejected. He has already been rejected by his parents, as it seems to him, and he is afraid of finding himself unnecessary again. The victim must prove his submission; the curator rejects those who are not needed. The social instinct forces the child to conform to the criteria of the community.

- “Go to the roof and stand on the edge.” Is this done to help the child overcome the fear of death?

No, this is not a fight against fear, as the curator says, manipulating meanings. This is a demonstration of submission to him.

- What about “watching scary videos all day”?

Curators reduce sensitivity to unpleasant images and remove barriers to perception.

- Another task looks harmless at all-listen to music sent by the curator.

The music is “meditative” - there is an aura of mystery and a continuation of submission to the will of the curator. The child's individuality is taken away and the child's will is suppressed. Infliction of pain, questions of an intimate nature, blackmail are also a test of trust, that is, manipulation and suppression. The result is the date of death and resignation to it. The child is already ready. All tasks are repeated many times and duplicated. Repetition and repetition is what a manipulator needs. And all tasks must involve sleep disturbance.

Do curators really come up with such tasks themselves? After all, knowledge of adolescent psychology is clearly needed here. At least the basics.

No, this system was not developed by them, it was developed by more serious people. Curators are pawns who hone the methods of working with the population. Someone prepared these manuals and templates for processing consciousness for them. The number of children involved in one session is 800–850 people, and if they follow through with at least 10%, then this is a huge tragedy that will be used for political purposes. This is already a threat to national security. The surviving children will be infected with distrust of people and the country. Then the influence technique will be used to code people for certain behavioral programs.

-What motivates the victim? Why is she seeking contact with the curator?

The victim does not feel like a victim. Typically, these deadly games are played by teenagers aged 11 years and older. What kind of children are these? As a rule, abandoned, parents are not interested in them. And neither social status nor family income matters. Due to my work, I often come across wealthy and successful families in which children are abandoned. And the child is looking for attention, looking for love. What do parents do if they don’t have time to educate? They pay off the child. Need a new phone? On the. Car? On the. There are many options. But you can't buy love, you can only spoil it.

- And it’s teenagers who end up abandoned more often?

For some reason, this happens in our country: the child is looked after by his parents very carefully until he is 6–7 years old, but during adolescence and after, the parents believe that he has already grown up and there is no need to take care of him. They are starting to pay him off.

And the teenager is aware of himself as an individual, he wants understanding. Love as a person from people significant to him. If there is no love, then he interprets it differently than we adults do. He concludes that I am bad. He cannot understand that his parents are busy and have no time for him. It is not needed - it means it is bad. There's something wrong with him.

- And is looking for understanding on the side?

Yes. The child begins to look for someone who will understand him. If at this moment he finds a “death group” where he will be accepted and also initiated into the secret... But the most big secret- this is death. No one will immediately talk to a teenager about suicide, they will even “try to dissuade” him if he himself starts talking about it.

- Does a child entering such games understand that this is a one-way journey? That there will be no return?

No. That's why we say - child! This is a person who is not able to evaluate his actions and take responsibility for them. The child does not understand this game, he is easy to deceive. All he needs to do is “give consent”, and then the selection begins. It depends on the curator whether he will bring the teenager to the end. And the “group of death” will create a “halo of a hero” who reached the end and did not chicken out.

- Who are these curators? And what motivates them?

There is a similar principle here - as children are selected, so are curators. Some people started playing these games themselves, while others were already invited. I believe these are people under 30 years old, they understand the Internet, and have some preparations to actually back up their words. A schematic psychological portrait of the curator seems to me to be as follows. This is a young man who is unsure of himself “offline”. He does not have any significant success in the social field. Not in demand, no one needs. He had some kind of personal tragedy. Either girls are not interested in him, or he was abandoned by his beloved.

Curators are people who are in a state of mental illness, they want to take revenge on the world for their inferiority, they want to punish society, to demonstrate their importance, their strength, power. They want fame in their circle, they need recognition. They are afraid of responsibility and for now this is their secret power. They revel in it. They like the absolute power they have over the child.

- So this is not a way to make money?

For the curator, the money issue is secondary, the desire for power and recognition is primary. Even those who were arrested and shown on TV are people of modest means, but very vain. And they got their moment of glory. But you can’t make money here. Curators can only receive payment for their services. Those who create or pay for such “curator networks” are not interested in financial returns. Profitability for them is not in monetary terms; there are dividends of a different nature. Take, for example, two citizens of Ukraine who were identified and exposed in 2015 in driving Russian children to suicide - their goal is clearly not to make money, but to kill the children of the enemy.

- Can parents protect their children from such systemic work?

If parents do not take care of their child, they will not be able to help him. It is necessary to spend time together and know the interests of the child. He shouldn't have free time. The child’s brain only knows how to learn, and the parents’ task is to teach. I have not heard or seen cases of communication with curators of children from special sports schools. And the reason is simple - the child lives according to a certain schedule and he has no time to think about stupid things. He lives a full life. But this requires money, since there are almost no free sports sections left.

- How to notice the symptoms?

It’s quite simple: the child gets up at an unusual time, lies, withdraws, there are cuts on the body, behavioral reactions change, lethargy, and a change in interests are observed. If you notice any of the above, you should urgently turn off the computer, take away your smartphone, contact law enforcement agencies, public organizations and psychologists.

- Should the state and society intervene somehow?

Yes, blaming everything on the parents is wrong. We see that “death groups” are a system aimed at undermining the foundations of society. And this is a security issue. Here, society itself must move towards the safety of children. Until recently, a representative of one of the Russian social networks very arrogantly stated that this was not their task. Because they don’t have the money to monitor such activities. But Western social networks immediately block such activity. Our tradition of not cooperating with the state also plays into the hands of criminals. But the action of the curator is a conscious work, it is a cybercrime.

If the state and society do not unite on this issue, the number of victims will increase. Difficulties in the economy, unemployment - all this will push people out of normal life and expose children to the risk of encountering a curator from “ deadly group" The problem of testing such technologies with the population is a method of hybrid warfare. This is a “war” where there is no front and everyone is involved. We must understand that this is a systemic process and a systemic response to this threat is needed.

Deputy Valeria Kovalenko introduces a bill "On psychological assistance to the population in the Leningrad region." She explained that recently the media has been mentioning the game more and more often." Blue whale", which has spread on the Internet and affects teenagers, threatening their lives and mental health.

“In connection with it, proposals and questions arise from “Ban the Internet for children and adolescents” to “Where to find a good psychologist.” If earlier in every city there were emergency psychological assistance services for children and adolescents with a Helpline,” then now it is impossible to find a qualified psychologist is quite difficult. In Russia there is a Unified Children's Helpline, but there is practically no advertising. The media are hyping up the Blue Whale theme, scaring parents with the consequences of the game, but not offering a solution to this problem,” says deputy. As a practicing psychologist and regular contributor to the Vyborg Vedomosti newspaper, she also prepared a memo for parents, which she has already published in the media. Here is its full text:

Good afternoon, Valeria Anatolyevna! Lately, suicide groups, the so-called “Blue Whale,” have been increasingly mentioned in the news. My daughter is 15 years old and I am very worried about her. What can I do to prevent her from falling into the web of these death recruiters? Ban her from using the Internet? Control her every move? Tell me what to do?

Irina S.

Hello. I noticed that my teenage son became withdrawn and stopped communicating with me. All free time hangs out with a friend, they often go for walks. And then in one of the Vyborg groups I saw a photo of two boys on the street, they were trying to cross the road in front of a moving car, and one of them seemed to look like me (the photo is from the back, it’s hard to see who). What if this is my son? What should I tell him? Punish with a belt? But he's 13 years old and has never been spanked. Help me with advice on how to “not overlook” my son.

Svetlana K.

Good afternoon, dear readers! Teenage suicide has always existed. When I worked at the Gloria center, we were often called on the helpline by guys who decided to die, and this was not a surprise. There are technologies for psychological work with such children that have proven their effectiveness.

Now social networks, in a certain sense, have taken on the role of a psychologist. Social networks can be useful for your child, or they can harm a fragile psyche. The so-called “Blue Whale” groups appeared not so long ago. I will say that this is a kind of teenage subculture. Remember, at one time there were punks, emo, goths? Now the GAME has appeared.

Reasons why teenagers become "Whales"

1. “Blue Whale”, “Run or Die” - these are not just games, these are games that have gone beyond the realm of virtuality. Attractive horror games that make you be on trend. “I’m in the game” - it’s cool, it’s fashionable.... You become one of... And the feeling of belonging to one of social groups is one of the basic needs of a person, especially a teenager.

2. This game kind of tests you for “Weak”. Will I be able to make it to the end? Will I be able to go out whenever I want?

3. I'm in the game! And I grew up in my own eyes, in the eyes of my friends. It’s so scary: doing something forbidden. My social rating grows with every video, I get a ton of likes.

4. “Nobody loves me!”, “Nobody needs me” - and now the thought appears: “Leave this world, lie low, like a whale.” And let everyone then cry at my grave...

“I will immediately become loved and needed” is one of the reasons why teenagers “go” into various games. There they are loved, there they are needed, there they may not think about what to do next. There is a curator who will decide everything for them. He will tell you what to do and when to do it. Will take responsibility for life and death. “I have nothing to do with it, I was told to do THIS” is a convenient position, I am not to blame for causing suffering to my loved ones.

5. Problems in the family, problems at school, problems with peers, unrequited love, fear of the Unified State Exam, fear of the future... And it’s hard to find a way out, it’s hard to live. It’s easier not to live. Often teenagers simply don’t want to live THIS way, and don’t want to DIE at all.

6. Depression, more often just melancholy: life is meaningless, empty and joyless. I don't want to live the same way as my parents. Poverty and inability to live with dignity. It’s easier to leave by jumping gracefully from the roof and smearing yourself on the asphalt.

What to do

1. First of all, it is important to KNOW your children, know their hobbies and social circle. Be interested not in grades and lessons learned, but in their lives in general.

Just yesterday yours Small child was clear to you, you knew almost everything about him. You thought you knew everything. In fact, your child attended kindergarten, most In my free time I talked with children like myself, with teachers, coaches, artistic directors, but not with you.

Now many will say: but I’m working, I don’t have time to communicate with him. But even in those hours when you are together, what do you talk about? About grades? Asking questions and not expecting answers? Are you satisfied with the monosyllabic “Yes, I did” and “No, no problem”? What is going on in the soul of your son, daughter? What do they dream about? What they face in Everyday life? How do you cope with the difficulties that arise?

Remember the last conversation with your child: How long did you talk per minute, and how long did your son/daughter talk? We forgot that a conversation is always short monologues of TWO or more people. I asked and received a detailed answer.

Yes, and I often notice this sin in myself - talking a lot. Instead of clarifying, asking again, I immediately begin to teach, tell, and advise. I think I know more than my daughter. I think I understand life better than my grandson. But it turns out that, for example, my grandson knows much more about dinosaurs and cars than I do. And he teaches me to be attentive to little things that, as an adult, I no longer notice.

And if none of the relatives wants to listen and understand, if they don’t have time to really help, what does the child do? That's right, he's looking for someone to take on this role. “An attentive adult”, ready to be there at any time, ready to listen and give advice, ready to give a ready-made recipe for solving the problem.

2. Talk about topics that concern your children. If you think your child is in the game, talk about this game, ask your child's opinion about those who are playing. Don’t try to intimidate him or punish him: “If I find out that you’re playing, I’ll tear off your ears/deprive him of the Internet/put him under house arrest for a month/you won’t go to the seaside, etc.” Don't try to find out all the information without explaining why you need it. You want to be closer and not work as an investigator, right?

Try to use logic when debunking threats. Is the curator afraid that he will kill his parents? Ask: “Why do you think he needs this? After all, for a real murder he faces a considerable criminal sentence? Why does the curator need this? How will he do this?

On social networks, children are open and defenseless. They think that by putting a random picture on their avatar, hiding their age and closing all contacts, they are inaccessible to scammers. However, despite their teenage cynicism, they are still children. And they believe in those whom they consider smart, cool and personally significant. This is what various curators take advantage of, who use children for their own, often not entirely clear, purposes. Some of them are simply mentally immature people. Most of the curators of this game are teenagers with similar problems who are unable to solve them in the usual way. Teach your child to be critical: it is better to doubt everything than to take the word of the first person you meet. Tell him that you will be there for him in any situation, that you love him and will do anything for him.

3. Try to convey to your child the idea that only he decides HOW to live. Does he really want to be a puppet in the hands of an unknown person? Why does he need to be dependent? What does this give him? And what does a curator unknown to him get?

4. Tell a few stories about people you know who were close to suicide and how they overcame the situation. Tell us about those who live despite a sea of ​​problems, including physical ones. Nick Vujicic, Stephen Hawking, Carrie Brown - here are a few people whose lives will be interesting to your teenager.

5. Talk about what happens AFTER. Okay, so you ran across the road, the driver suddenly braked. What if there was a small child in the car at the time and he was injured? You are ready to kill a person with your own hands just because someone told you: “Run!” Are you ready to bear criminal responsibility?

6. Look at yourself from the outside: in the evening after dinner and household chores, you sit on the phone. A typical family: mom is on the phone, dad is on the phone, the child is also on the phone, following the example of the parents. So what do you want from him? So that he lives a real life? Are you ready to set an example for him? Captivate him with something more interesting than the virtual world?

7. I repeat: there is no need to talk long and hard, just ask these and other questions to yourself, your loved ones and your children. Don't ask for an answer. These questions make you think, and it’s good if the answer comes not too late...

Love yourself and your loved ones and do it not in words.