A day after a 16-year old boy committed suicide after playing an online game dubbed "Blue Whale Challenge", the government has moved in to ban the game.
A statement from Kenya Film Classification Board Chief (KFCB) Executive Officer Ezekiel Mutua read:
"I announced the ban of "Blue Whale" online game that encourages kids to engage in various dangerous tasks, including cutting parts their body with a razor and ultimately committing suicide. This game has been reported to have contributed to deaths of scores of kids who engaged in it."
Mutua disclosed that KFCB was working with cyber crime police and other government agencies to immediately withdraw the game and block other websites that are illegally providing access to this game.
KFCB has also written to Facebook and Google to block the online game in a bid to secure its citizens.
Players who sign up for the game are assigned an administrator who assigns them various challenges involving inflicting pain and harm to their lives.
As proof, the participants are expected to take photos of each challenge with the ultimate challenge being taking their own lives.
If a participant declines to take their own lives, the administrator threatens to harm those close to them.
The controversial game was linked to the death of 130 people in Russia with police launching investigations on the same.
The death of Jamie Njenga raised concerns on how safe children are when accessing online content with parents being urged to keep abreast with their children's online activities to keep them safe.
Read More: Blue Whale Challenge Causes Nairobi Student Jamie Njenga to Hang Himself
