Law enforcement is encouraging parents to talk to their kids about the importance of resisting the pressure to follow harmful instructions or those that require you to give up personal information.
“Even basic open source research suggests that ‘Momo’ is run by hackers who are looking for personal info,” wrote PSNI Craigavon. “The danger lies with your child feeling pressured to either follow the orders of ANY app via ‘challenges,’ or peer pressure in chat rooms and the like … More important is that your child knows not to give out personal info to ANYONE they don’t know, that no one has the right to tell them to, or make them do ANYTHING they don’t want to.”
The Police Service of Northern Ireland also advised parents to be extra vigilant of their children’s media consumption:
“Our advice as always, is to supervise the games your kids play and be extremely mindful of the videos they are watching on YouTube. Ensure that the devices they have access to are restricted to age-suitable content.”
[irp posts=”76826″ name=”My 7-Yr-Old Was Taught How to Attempt Suicide by YouTube Kids. She Was Told ‘Go Kill Yourself'”]Though the latest scare is Momo surfacing on YouTube Kids, Peppa Pig, and Fortnite, the creepy creature had its beginnings on WhatsApp. CBS News reached out to the company for comment.
“WhatsApp cares deeply about the safety of our users,” a WhatsApp spokesperson told CBS this week. “It’s easy to block any phone number and we encourage users to report problematic messages to us so we can take action.”
YouTube is also under fire from parents outraged that their filters are not tighter.
“Our Community Guidelines prohibit harmful and dangerous challenges, including promoting the Momo challenge, and we remove this content quickly when flagged to us,” a YouTube representative told CBS.
While YouTube has made many claims in recent weeks to be cracking down on the pedophile ring found on the platform as well as these suicide challenges surfacing, parents say it simply isn’t working.
Talk to your child about the ‘Momo Challenge’ today, and be sure to share this information with the parents you know on Facebook.