Spamming/Talk

I don't know enough to write this myself, but...
a) is there a name for the emails that say "if you send this to 11 people a video will pop up on your screen"? b) is this spam as such, or does it have another name?

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A) Wouldn't that just be a form of chain mail? B) It might not qualify as spam under its definition as unsolicited commercial email (since they're typically not commercia); but it might qualify under the broader historical context (think Monty Python: "spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, and more spam" and usenet postings drowning out all discourse).