Over the past couple of days, various publications have reported on the Momo Suicide Challenge, and how it was apparently being spliced with kid videos of Fortnite and Peppa Pig characters on YouTube. While it initially didn’t comment on the situation, YouTube has since released a statement denying that the videos exist.
The reports of Momo appearing in YouTube videos appears to stem from a claim by the mother of a six year old from Swindon, England. She said, “The video paused half way through, but he didn’t press pause. Then the Momo face popped up and was making weird noises. He couldn’t hear everything it said but it was saying ‘I’m going to kill you’ and he thinks it said ‘I will hurt your friends.’” Police and schools in the UK then issued warnings about the Momo Suicide Challenge, which appear to have sparked the widespread reports.
“Contrary to press reports, we’ve not received any recent evidence of videos showing or promoting the Momo challenge on YouTube. Content of this kind would be in violation of our policies and removed immediately.”
Something else that seems to have contributed to the hysteria is a legitimate situation where a suicide tutorial was spliced with a fan-made cartoon of Splatoon. A pediatrician by the name of Dr. Free N. Hess noted that the video hadn’t been removed despite being reported eight months prior. After Dr. Hess stepped in, YouTube finally removed the video.
So this legitimate incident of suicide content spliced with kids videos seems to have fueled the fire of the supposed Momo Suicide Challenge videos. However, actual videos of the Momo Suicide Challenge haven’t really materialized (before the reports, anyway), which could indicate that the hysteria over the Momo Suicide Challenge is more of an urban legend than it is a genuine threat.
Having said that, it’s still better for parents to err on the side of caution. Now that the Momo Suicide Challenge has become a viral story, there have been new videos uploaded that do feature a clip of Momo spliced in the middle. Parents may want to more closely monitor what their kids are watching on YouTube, just to make sure there isn’t anything harmful hidden in them.
Source: Forbes
