Recently parents have been terrified at the prospect of a creepy character known as ‘Momo’ appearing on their child’s screens and encouraging them to self-harm. The Momo Challenge was widely reported in news all over the world and spread like wildfire on social media. Now it has been confirmed that the whole thing is a hoax. Similar to the Blue Whale Challenge, which caused panic worldwide in 2017, the Momo Challenge went viral, with schools, parenting groups and the media issuing warnings about it.
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What is the Momo Challenge?
Momo is a creepy character with stringy hair, bulging eyes and a wide smile. She is originally an artwork called ‘Mother Bird’ that was created by Japanese special-effects company Link Factory and her face has been used for the entity Momo.
It was believed that Momo would contact your children on social media, speak or message them and convince them to hurt themselves. In some cases she challenged children to commit suicide. These reports circulated on social media for months. At first people said that Momo was contacting children on WhatsApp, and the latest rumour was that she was suddenly appearing in videos on YouTube Kids, particularly in Peppa Pig videos. All these reports have not been validated, and various people have debunked the challenge, proving that it was nothing more than a fear-mongering rumour.
How did it spread?
The reports of Momo started on social media and then quickly spread until they were picked up by the news media, which then began reporting about the Momo Challenge, warning parents to be on the lookout. This gave some legitimacy to the hoax, which was suddenly viewed as a real threat.
While there were many ‘reports’ of incidents, none of them was ever confirmed. However, parents continued to agonise over Momo, perpetuating it until it caused global panic. Emma Sadleir, an expert in social-media law, tweeted an article from The New York Times that broke down how Momo was made real because she went viral, and not because the challenge is legitimate.
“The Momo Challenge may not be real, but Momo is more than a hoax or panic. She’s a pretty smart work of group fiction written in the grip of a pretty dumb panic, an avatar for a collective spirit that is less vengeful than guilty, anxious and helplessly angry.”
— Emma Sadleir (@EmmaSadleir) March 5, 2019
Keeping your children safe on YouTube
Arguably, a big contributing factor to the fear parents had of the Momo Challenge is not fully understanding what their children are watching online, or how to monitor them successfully. Sadlier tweeted these points to help keep your children safe, particularly when they are on YouTube Kids:
You may have seen some of the really scary stories circulating about content on YouTube Kids (suicide instructions, self-harm, the Momo challenge, knives, predators and paedophilia)
Here are three tips from Code 9 to keep your kids safe on YouTube Kids: pic.twitter.com/z7OCwg8iw8
– Emma Sadleir (@EmmaSadleir) February 27, 2019
PHOTO: Pixabay
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