What is the ‘Momo Challenge’?
If you've been on social media this week, surely you've seen those horrifying photos of "Momo" circulating.
This is an effort to explain what the "Momo Challenge" is, but also a desperate plea to people sharing it to please stop because it's scaring me too.
In case you've been living under a rock, the horrifying "Momo Challenge" is circulating the internet again and people are freaking out.
Here's what I know:
The Momo Challenge is a YouTube video that appeals to kids at first. Then, sometime during a seemingly normal kids YouTube video, this horrifying chick named Momo pops up and begins talking to your kids. While I have yet to find an actual video that has Momo in it, apparently she talks to kids about self-harm and convinces them to do bad things to themselves. It's also been reported that she tells kids to do things such as leave the stove on and hide things from their parents.
As we all know, YouTube is the modern-day Disney Channel for kids. I have nieces and nephews, and a kid of my own, so I've seen first-hand just how much kids love watching YouTube videos. Perhaps that's what makes the Momo Challenge so alarming.
For those of you who don't know who Momo is, she looks like this:
TERRIFYING, RIGHT?!!!!!
AHHHHH.
I don't even want to look at it because it scares me, so I can only imagine what these kids are thinking.
So, according to reports on the Internet, some people are saying it's a hoax. I'd believe it, because this isn't the first time we've seen this chicken-headed lookin' thing on our timelines.
A couple years ago a similar story was going around. According to Facebook comments of my peers, some of their kids actually know the creature in the video and can identify her as "Momo". So...I guess it can't all be a hoax? If children are able to identify her, they've obviously seen her somewhere.
I asked my sister to ask her kids about her, and none of them (ages 6, and two 3-year-olds) knew who she was. However, many of my other friends have been sharing the image saying their kids are well aware of her and some were even scared to admit to their parents who she was. Apparently Momo tells children to keep her a secret from their parents or she will hurt them. It's all pretty terrifying stuff, honestly.
Again, I have yet to find an actual video that features Momo in it, but YouTube is pretty good about pulling things quickly.
Even celebrities like Kim Kardashian have begged YouTube to do something about this. As far as I'm aware, the videos aren't available.
Have you heard of the Momo Challenge?