There ’ second merely one problem with the Momo Challenge : it ’ s not a substantial thing. As Rolling Stone reported last workweek, the Momo Challenge is just the latest of a string of creepypasta-inspired internet urban legends that have gained grip due to parental fears about technology, from Slender Man to the more holocene Blue Whale Challenge .
That doesn ’ thyroxine base, however, that the grin, wraith-like image that inspired Momo came out of a vacuum. The double of “ Momo ” is actually based on a sculpture by japanese artist Keisuke Aiso, who initially exhibited it in 2016 at a Tokyo art express. And fortunately for parents ( and the remainder of humanness at big, I guess ), Aiso has last weighed in on the panic his artwork has unwittingly inspired, revealing one n a video interview that the sculpt was destroyed after it was topic to degradation .
Via The Sun, Aiso revealed that the sculpture ( which is inspired by the japanese folk figure the ubume, or bird charwoman ), it didn ’ metric ton get much attention when he first exhibited it at Toyko ’ s Vanilla Gallery. So he was shocked when he started seeing reports linking his artwork to a WhatsApp “ challenge ” that encouraged children to harm themselves .
“ When Momo first appeared, it was good in a means that it had received some attention. I was please, ” he said. “ But the direction that it has been used now is very inauspicious. People do not know if it is true or not, but apparently the children have been affected and I do feel a little responsible for it. I feel like I am in trouble but it ’ south all out of my hands. ”
fortunately, Aiso says he threw the rubber sculpt last class after it succumbed to the natural process of degradation. “ It doesn ’ thyroxine exist anymore, it was never meant to last, ” he said ( he does, however, have a rubberize mask replica of Momo that his friend made for him ). He besides issued a message reassuring children who had been spooked by rumors of the “ challenge ” : “ The children can be reassured Momo is dead — she doesn ’ t exist and the bane is gone. ”
As The Atlantic ’ s Taylor Lorenz has reported, rumors of the Momo Challenge first gained grip in the Spanish-speaking world survive year, after tabloids started publishing reports that young people had taken their own lives after being encouraged to do indeed by a ghoulish figure named “ Momo. ” ( These reports are unconfirmed, and none of these deaths have ever been definitively linked to the “ challenge. ” )
While there is no evidence that the “ Momo Challenge ” exists, parents have reported that the figure has been spliced into kid-friendly content on YouTube, including a video of Peppa Pig, issuing a rejoinder to children to harm themselves .
Although a clip has been circulating on social media featuring a sing-song voice singe, “ Momo is going to kill you ” over an double of Aiso ’ second sculpture, Rolling Stone could not track down an original source for the clip, and requests to the original poster to supply the link went unreturned.
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In response to such claims, YouTube issued a statement stopping point workweek saying, “ We ’ ve seen no recent evidence of videos promoting the Momo Challenge on YouTube. ”
We want to clear something up regarding the Momo Challenge : We ’ ve seen no holocene evidence of videos promoting the Momo Challenge on YouTube. Videos encouraging harmful and dangerous challenges are against our policies .
— YouTube ( @ YouTube ) February 27, 2019
none of this is to say, however, that there international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine a grain of truth to reports of frightening or exploitative content targeted at children on YouTube. It ’ s well-known that content creators have exploited YouTube ’ s algorithm to target creepy or downright inappropriate videos at children, including clips of beloved children ’ south character drinking bleach or committing acts of violence. There have besides been reports of pedophiles lurking in YouTube comments sections to post time-stamps of suggestive shots of children in video recording .
YouTube appears to be taking these complaints seriously : final week, it issued a statement on its web log saying that it will “ begin suspending comments on most videos that feature minors, with the exception of a belittled number of channels that actively moderate their comments and take extra steps to protect children. ” While message creators are not precisely happy about the change, in an e-mail to Rolling Stone a spokesperson for YouTube said, “ We understand that comments are an important direction creators build and connect with their audiences, [ but ] we besides know that this is the right thing to do to protect the YouTube community. ”
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As for the rumors of Momo appearing on YouTube, they very well may stem from alike reports of clips of a shock-comedy YouTuber named FilthyFrank being spliced into kid-friendly videos of the Nintendo game Splatoon on YouTube and YouTube Kids, per a viral Facebook post by baby doctor Dr. Free Hess. In the clip, a man is seen saying, “ Remember kids, sideways for care, longways for results, ” referring to slitting one ’ s wrists .
however, there ’ sulfur nothing particularly new about parents freaking out about overhyped reports of harmful social media-based “ challenges. ” “ There ’ s no real accuracy to [ games like the Momo Challenge ] or evidence that it ’ s a real number menace, ” Benjamin Radford, a folklorist and inquiry chap for the Committee for Skeptic Inquiry, told Rolling Stone last week. Radford suggested these phenomena are “ part of a moral panic, fueled by parents ’ fears in wanting to know what their kids are astir to. ”
Anyone experiencing a crisis is encouraged to call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741 .
