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Original poster

Momo - To delete YouTube for all

287 replies

carrywatermelons · 25/02/2019 08:53

DC watch a mix of documentaries, gaming and family challenge videos on YouTube. The eldest uses it to practice singing between lessons.
Momo has terrified me, my youngest DC8 is very sensitive so I really want to try and protect them.
Eldest DC has known about momo for a while and is a bit hardier but feel like it wouldn't be fair to 'allow' one and not the other.
What have you decided to do about momo?

OP posts:
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7
AmazingBouncingFerret · 25/02/2019 12:10

I would personally like to thank whoever came up with it.
My daughter is now happily occupying her time with things other than YouTube. Massive win in my opinion.

AmazingBouncingFerret · 25/02/2019 12:11

^^ obviously tongue in cheek and if any suicide or self harm is proven to be linked then it’s a very bad thing indeed. Just thought I’d put it out there before I’m jumped on by a mob of angry parents!

PivotPivotPivottt · 25/02/2019 12:14

My daughter saw the image when she was sitting beside me while I was scrolling Facebook. It freaked her out and she ended up coming into my bed during the night. I've read a lot of posts about it on Facebook and apparently some of the kids in her class are talking about it. Apparently it pops up in adverts on games and on the kids YouTube app. From what I have read Momo tells the viewers to do dangerous stuff and warns them not to tell their parents or they will be killed.
She doesn't want to go on her tablet anymore which is fine with me.

Flowerfae · 25/02/2019 12:15

I've just had a talk to our 3 about that horrible doll thing (if that is momo) and told them if they see anything about it on youtube (they haven't) just to ignore it, I've shown them a picture of it and I've told them the load of rubbish that is spouted about it (that its going to kill you if you don't hurt yourself blah blah) and they've said that its horrible looking and they know its rubbish. My 10 year old uses YouTube to watch a load of completely lame videos about games done by morons.

hannah1992 · 25/02/2019 12:16

From what i saw of it it creeped me out at 27 years old so im pretty sure thay yoing children woukd be creeped out by it before it even said anything. I know mone would have been.

It is always about supervision though. Children should not be left alone with any form of internet under an age where they can't possibly understand the dangers of it fully.

I speak openly with my 8 year old about things but I wouldn't trust her to not click on something etc of she was curious so she's only aloud it when either me or dh are around.

MissionItsPossible · 25/02/2019 12:17

I wouldn’t compare Momo to anything Jim Henson made. More like something out of Beetlejuice, if anything.

BejamNostalgia · 25/02/2019 12:18

This is just like the ‘Chelsea Smilers’. That was a rumour that swept primary school in the 80s that a group of Chelsea football fans called ‘The Chelsea Headhunters’ we’re going into schools and holding classes hostage, giving all the children small cuts in the side of their mouths then asking them what football team they supported. If they said anything other than Chelsea they would supposedly kick them between the legs to make them scream, which would turn thr small cuts into two huge gashes (there were other versions with more gore like putting vinegar on the cuts).

It spread across the country in about a week and there was mass hysteria. People keeping their kids off school. The police had never had a single reported case of it, it was all nonsense, but the rumour just terrified people.

I think this is similar. Momo is reputed to be on WhatsApp, not YouTube. And it’s certainly not popping up on other unrelated videos on YouTube.

YogaWannabe · 25/02/2019 12:19

To the horrified PP who said 8yos shouldn’t be watching YouTube unsupervised, what exactly do you mean? That you should watch it with them or pre watch every video before allowing them to watch?
These kind of comments are rarely helpful to anyone and just made to convey judgmental outrage 🙄

OP, with all the controversy about YouTube lately (Momo aside) and the weather getting so much better, I’m cracking down on green time I general in a big way and and DD cal use Netflix kids instead of YouTube when screen time is allowed.

toomuchtooold · 25/02/2019 12:26

That's cleared up a mystery for me today... DD2 (6) came in from school a couple of weeks ago saying her classmate had been talking about this Momo who comes and stands at your bed if you say her name. I told her if that were true, Chris and Pui from Show Me Show Me would never get a night's sleep and she seemed OK with that. I had no clue what it was other than her classmate winding her up. This is in Germany by the way so it's obviously travelled far. There's a parents' evening this week, I might mention it to the teacher.

AbsentmindedWoman · 25/02/2019 12:26

It pops up as an ad on Youtube? Who is paying for that? Confused

StopMakingAFoolOutofMe · 25/02/2019 12:34

People are so technologically illiterate.

Anyway, I sat my DS down and we talked about Momo, what it was and the risk of him receiving something with on. We looked at the face then looked at the Japanese art installation it actually comes from. He now knows that if it does pop up, it's a fake and ridiculous trick.

He's also allowed unsupervised access to YouTube because I trust him and the content he wants to watch. I'm actually signed into his YouTube account on my phone, and check his history now and again to look at what he's watching and it's all good.

Talk to your children, discuss things with them, make them aware of things.

PivotPivotPivottt · 25/02/2019 12:36

Momo is reputed to be on WhatsApp, not YouTube. And it’s certainly not popping up on other unrelated videos on YouTube.

One of the screenshots I saw last night was YouTube. It was one of those egg surprise videos and it appeared half way through the video Sad

MirriVan · 25/02/2019 12:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PivotPivotPivottt · 25/02/2019 12:39

StopMakingAFool I'm the same, my daughter usually has unsupervised access to kids YouTube (she used to have the normal one but I changed to kids). I have the android family link on my phone as well. She has chosen herself to give up her tablet. I've explained to her it's not real and to tell me straight away if she sees anything but it's really scared her and she would rather not go on her tablet at all. Which is fine with me I'm happy for her to give it up! What I'm not happy about though is that she's been scared into giving upSad

Bumbumtaloo · 25/02/2019 12:43

@MynameisJune Not sure how true it is but there is apparently an issue with Peppa Pig now? I haven’t really had a look as my DC are to old for Peppa but I literally just saw it on Facebook.

Momo - To delete YouTube for all
MirriVan · 25/02/2019 12:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheInvestigator · 25/02/2019 12:47

Until they are old enough to really understand and talk about it, then you either need to prevent access or always be in the room with them and watching what they are watching.

Ladycsparkles · 25/02/2019 12:49

My children watch YouTube. I will be speaking to both of them after school about momo, firstly to see if they actually know who it is and then to explain that it's some idiots who think they're funny putting it on videos and it's actually a sculpture.
Hopefully neither have seen or heard of her and that will be that.
Must admit, her face is creepy af, reminds me of the scene in beetlejuice where they change their faces.

All anyone can do is either ban YouTube or preempt a potential situation by talking to your children 🤷🏼‍♀️

MynameisJune · 25/02/2019 12:53

@bumbumtaloo none of those are from the official Peppa Pig page. The names underneath the titles tell you what channel they are from. We only let her watch the official ones which are fine. We watch them with her and there has never been anything untoward on them. That’s why I set the restrictions.

trancepants · 25/02/2019 13:03

It pops up as an ad on Youtube? Who is paying for that? confused

I suspect your post means you already know this but I'd say the answer is no-one because it's not happening. Thos pop-ups cost quite a bit of money so absolutely no-one would be paying for that. And if somehow there really is some made rich group paying big bucks on the off chance it will scare a child or two (though there isn't) there are plenty of ways of making sure you never see pop-ups.

The funny thing is loads of people are getting het up about a made up threat to their children's security while at the same time their posts suggest that they aren't actually doing the basics of online security. There are actually genuine privacy concerns when you browse online. Most notably data harvesting, mainly for advertising purposes, but potentially others. They don't have a "scary" picture going viral but they are much more worrisome because they are genuine.

knitandpearl · 25/02/2019 13:09

That face is nothing like Jim Henson puppets, wtf

I'm still none the wiser as to whether the face actually 'pops up' anywhere unreqested or not or whether someone has to actually send it in a message.

orthodoxIcon · 25/02/2019 13:12

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

unlimiteddilutingjuice · 25/02/2019 13:12

“the game – which is apparently played on social messaging platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp, and relies on a user messaging an unknown number and receiving increasingly dangerous tasks"

The problem with Momo (if its real) is not dodgy content in video's. Its the ability of adults to interact with children on line. Whether this particular scare is real or not- this is a genuine concern.

I'm happy to allow my kids unsupervised access to youtube content but I wont allow them accounts of their own and I wont allow them to put up content.

Occasionally they'll make a "toy review" and ask me to post it and I'll stick it on my facebook page and tell them its the same thing!
Which it probably is! I can't imagine anyone except Granny being interested.

Vixxxy · 25/02/2019 13:13

I know there are so many videos on YouTube but for the YT Kids app I really think only human verification should be allowed.

Definitely agree with this. Yeah getting people to check the vids before they go online will mean it takes a bit longer for content to appear when someone uploads, but it would make it much safer. I actually assumed they already did this, with YT kids.

PBo83 · 25/02/2019 13:16

I know there are so many videos on YouTube but for the YT Kids app I really think only human verification should be allowed

This would work but would reduce the amount of content and make the service more expensive to the end user.

To be fair though, as others have said, Momo (if it is a thing at all) isn't a YouTube issue and, personally, there are far more damaging things to children on YouTube than a slightly scary face.