'Momo Challenge' Fears Are Real — But Not For Reasons You Think

OAK FOREST, IL — You've probably seen warnings on your social media accounts like this one going around Oak Forest: "Personal experience, delete YouTube off your children’s devices. It is not just MOMO either, there are other videos." And parents, understandably, are reacting with alarm.

That panic is spreading across the Internet like wildfire, with media outlets picking up warnings and telling parents to beware. And perhaps with good reason. The Momo Challenge is supposed to be a type of cyberbullying where messages pop up in YouTube videos giving children instructions on how to commit suicide. They're accompanied by pictures of a big-eyed, creepy woman.

But the trouble is: It's not real. It's a viral hoax.

The horrific hoax started last year in the United States and earlier than that in some Latin American countries. One account traces it to WhatsApp, where recipients were sent violent image and orders, and threatened with violence if they didn't follow those orders.

The point was to terrorize youngsters.

However, YouTube has said it has seen no evidence of the Momo Challenge in any of its videos, and if it did, it would remove them.

The biggest fear, researchers and others say, is the virality of the hoax. People share the news with the good intention of warning parents and kids to keep them safe. But in the end, the panic can cause anxiety, and sometimes kids end up hurting themselves in an attempt to prove hoaxes wrong or ironic.

The best action? Don't share the hoax.

That can bring cold comfort to parents. After all, questionable content is all over the Internet and there must be steps parents can take to keep their kids safe, right?

National Online Safety, a United Kingdom-based advocacy group, offers concrete tips parents can take to monitor what their children are exposed to online. Those tips include talking to kids about the Momo Challenge to tell them it's not real and to discuss children's concerns. Parents should be vigilant about using parental controls and should not hesitate to report and block content. Parents, too, should monitor a child's online activity.

Community Unit School District 308 reached out to parents in an attempt to ease concerns, offering its own set of resources to arm parents with information about online safety.

One of those is Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that reviews and rates movies, games, apps, TV shows, websites, books, and music. It also offers guidelines for parents on how to choose online programming for their children.

"While we are not experts in the field of internet safety, we strongly suggest that you filter the content children come in contact with online, and follow age recommendations for apps and video games," officials said in their message.

For its part, YouTube released what it's doing to protect children who watch its videos.