Momo YouTube Challenge: Who Is Momo That's Tormenting Children Around The World?

Parents and school authorities from all over the world are currently raising awareness against the Momo YouTube Channel, which features videos urging kids to engage in self-harm.

The videos, dubbed “Momo Challenge,” are currently circulating on YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp and feature different characters that threaten those who watch. Reports of the video being shown have surfaced from the U.K., South America, the U.S. and now Australia. What’s worse, some videos also get spliced in seemingly harmless episodes with “instructions” on how to commit suicide.

Some parents were already posting grave warnings to monitor the videos being watched by kids. One mom reported that her six-year-old son was watching a gaming channel when “Momo” (a creature described with disheveled hair, large eyes, and wide mouth) popped up and threatened her kid with the message, "I'm going to kill you."

What’s more alarming is how the character seemed to be controlling the computer as the video paused without her child touching anything. The character on the video made weird noises and even threatened to hurt her child’s friends. Traumatized, the child would not leave her side after that and refused to be alone in a room.

The character appears in gaming videos like Roblox and Minecraft and is reported to have appeared in messaging apps like WhatsApp.

Now what's surprising is that the original Momo was not intended to be an image of threat. According to Rolling Stone, Momo is a sculpture made by Keisuke Aisawa from Link Factory, a Japanese company that makes props and special effects for horror films. The Momo sculpture, known as ubume or "Bird woman," was displayed at the Gen (Vanilla) Gallery in Tokyo’s Ginza district. The mythical creature is said to depict a woman who died during childbirth.

Despite the harmless background, Momo has been used since last year to spread terror among kids online. Aside from Momo, other disturbing videos that also encourage self-harm have also been reported. Disturbing episodes featuring Peppa Pig glorifying murder are also circulating online. One report showed how a video of a guy teaching kids how to slash their wrists was spliced in one children’s episode.

According to a report, the Northolt Community Special School in Hull, East Yorks in Ireland has already issued a warning to parents after the videos have alarmingly appeared on YouTube.

"We are aware that some nasty challenges (Momo challenge) are hacking into children's programmes. Challenges appear midway through Kids YouTube, Fortnight, Peppa pig to avoid detection by adults. Please be vigilant with your child using IT, images are very disturbing,” the school advisory read.

To date, there are no specific reports of authorities launching a massive campaign to stop this kind of videos from circulating. Authorities have also remained baffled about the origin of the videos. The Police Service of Northern Ireland, however, already issued a warning in their website about the Momo challenge.

“The most fundamental piece of advice that I can offer is to speak with your children – let them know that they do not have to deal with any concerns on their own. It is crucial that parents are involved with their children’s online lives and I’d urge parents to make children aware of online dangers and ensure they know that they can speak to someone if anything or anyone online causes them concern,” Detective Sergeant Elaine McCormill from PSNI’s Public Protection Branch said.

The Momo challenge is now being linked to two deaths in Colombia.