SALT LAKE CITY — Major news outlets including the BBC are reporting that the "Momo challenge" is a hoax being perpetuated by alarmed parents and online news articles.
A woman named Becci McGuigan posted a video on Facebook Sunday which shows her confronting her son about a character called "Momo," depicted by a photo of a creepy bulging-eyed woman. The pictured character is really a statue called “Mother Bird,” designed by Japanese artist Keisuke Aisawa and displayed at the Vanilla Gallery in Tokyo in 2016.
"This is my boy's reaction when I asked him if he had ever heard or seen this Momo," McGuigan, who lives in Morecambe, England, wrote on her Facebook page. "I've had to spend the last half hour trying to convince my sobbing boy that it's not real and nobody is going to hurt him."
She indicated in her post that her son encountered the character on YouTube but kept it secret because he was frightened.
"It just comes up as a picture," her son says sobbing in the Facebook video.
Other parents have shared similar stories, some claiming the Momo character threatened to harm their children. For example, a woman named Pearl Woods told CBS Sacramento this week that her 12-year-old daughter with autism was encouraged to do dangerous things by the character.
But despite accounts parents have shared about kids allegedly encountering Momo, YouTube confirmed that it has not seen any evidence of videos promoting Momo on its platform, according to The Atlantic. A YouTube spokesman told The Atlantic that if the videos did exist, they would be removed instantly for violating the platform's policies.
"We work to ensure the videos in YouTube Kids are family-friendly and take feedback very seriously," said YouTube in a statement reported by USA Today.
The UK Safer Internet Centre told the Guardian that stories about "the momo challenge" were "fake news."
"News coverage of the momo challenge is prompting schools or the police to warn about the supposed risks posed by the momo challenge, which has in turn produced more news stories warning about the challenge," said Guardian media editor Jim Waterson.
According to Rolling Stone, the photo of Aisawa's "Mother Bird" statue gained traction on Reddit back in 2016 because it looked so disturbing. From there, rumors started circulating that scammers using the photo would encourage children to text a number on WhatsApp and then send the kids instructions to reveal personal information and complete a series of dangerous tasks, culminating in self-harm or suicide.
In July 2018, a YouTube user called ReignBot posted a video that unpacked and debunked the phenomenon, prompting stories and news articles warning about the dangers of the "challenge" last year, Rolling Stone reported.
Now, those rumors are back.
On Monday, Northern Ireland police issued a warning stating they are working with other UK law enforcement to "identify the extent of the problem and look for opportunities to deal with this issue."
"No official reports have been made to police," the statement reads.
Fact-checking website Snopes said although the challenge is likely a hoax, reports about the challenge can still be harmful.
"Word of the 'Momo challenge' is now so widespread that whether or not it represents a real threat, the subject has generated rumors that in themselves can be cause for concern among children," David Mikkelson wrote in the Snopes article.
Kim Metcalfe, a retired professor of early childhood education and psychology, told the Deseret News that there is danger in perpetuating a myth that might cause kids to go searching for disturbing material out of curiosity.
"Professionals and parents are naturally concerned and want to keep our kids safe. Consequently, they leap into action while trying to get the facts," said Metcalfe. "Naturally, the first thing kids do is go to the internet and try to explore the 'forbidden' Momo challenge. As we see these behaviors keep the topic alive, and the spread of the virus across social media is like a runaway train gathering speed as it descends down the tracks."
Experts have suggested that rather than focusing on Momo, parents should use the opportunity to educate children about internet safety.
“You don’t need to know about every platform and every app and every device out there, but you do need to know and understand your kids' favorite apps, their favorite games, their devices,” said cyber safety expert Denise DeRosa, as reported by Snopes.
Pediatric psychologist Meghan Walls, said it's best to talk to kids about frightening things they might encounter online before they run into them.
“Something like, 'Ya know, there’s some scary things that pop up on phones and tablets and if you ever see something like that, come get me,'” Walls told Snopes.
"Have honest conversations with kids about click bait — information intentionally embedded in social media to entice kids to 'click' for the purpose of stealing their private information — or giving unscrupulous characters access to you and your information," Metcalfe recommended. "Keep the conversation matter-of-fact style. There is no need to mention Momo challenge."
The BBC reported that adults should be careful about sharing articles that perpetuate the myth to avoid causing unnecessary alarm.