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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Thread gallery
7
Meandmetoo · 26/02/2019 16:55

"Because randoms on an internet would never lie or be stupid, immature or pathetic hmm"

I thought the tone was obvious, clearly not Grin

RoastOx · 26/02/2019 17:10

There are some clips embedded within Videos instructing children to do dangerous things or they/their parents will be cursed/killed

Where is the proof? I keep noticing FB posts about "my daughter Chardonnay was watching a video on youtube and now she is scarred. See photo below of her reaction when she told me who MOMO is"

Its fucking bullshit scaremongering. Show me a video where this is embedded and I may believe you.

All this is doing is giving sick people ideas

Mumphineasandferbmadea · 26/02/2019 17:28

I dont know if it was a similar thing but my children's school sent out a text warning that scary videos are coming up on children's YouTube so to be aware that just because you think it's the kids version it isn't necessarily safe.

ohmydaysagain · 26/02/2019 17:43

I used to put YouTube on the telly for the kids they love watching kids unwrapping toys and they like to watch the kids songs. I was cooking in the kitchen and popped in one day to find it was showing 2 grown men and a kid dressed up as princesses singing about egg in your knickers? I was horrified the kids videos just keep playing and usually follow on from what they have already been watching. We don't put YouTube on now unless there is an adult in the room. I feel guilty now wondering what on earth I have been letting them watch Blush

Snuffalo · 26/02/2019 18:09

If anyone can find definitive proof that this exists as a 'popup' in a video or that it's anything more than a hoax, I will donate £50 to their chosen charity (as long as it's not something that goes against my own morals, like the Salvation Army or an anti-choice charity) and post evidence here.

Good luck!

whitechocolatespaceegg · 26/02/2019 18:20

Standing in the playground at pick up today... group of parents talking about this in front of their children. Saying how frightening the character is, how she gets people to self harm, burn the house down etc. Can't believe how irresponsible that was...

SwimmingKaren · 26/02/2019 18:29

I showed it to both of mine ages ago when I first became aware of it through an article about the model itself and links were being made to YouTube (my dc don’t have WhatsApp). I just thought show, explain, debunk and make it into some kind of joke figure so if they ever did come across it unexpectedly or hear their friends talking about it they wouldn’t be frightened as I definitely would have been as a kid. That thing is horrible looking!

WellThisIsShit · 26/02/2019 18:37

And... still no definitive proof huh? Ok. Smile

SpinningSister · 26/02/2019 19:59

Skip to 5.07 of this video - what the fuck

ReaganSomerset · 26/02/2019 20:01

To be fair it is entitled 'Momo Kinder Surprise'

SpinningSister · 26/02/2019 20:03

I agree but what’s it for? Who dedicated time to do this? And why?

NotANotMan · 26/02/2019 20:14

the kids videos just keep playing and usually follow on from what they have already been watching

Never let kids have YouTube on auto play

NotANotMan · 26/02/2019 20:16

Who and why are questions that can't be answered. It's the internet! It's also not an example of what the OP is talking aboit

sagradafamiliar · 26/02/2019 20:16

Oh ffs 😂

SpinningSister · 26/02/2019 20:19

I know it’s the internet those questions were frustrated rhetorical.
Not everything everyone posts on a thread is exactly what the OP was getting at, sometimes we go off slightly which i did do.
Sorry I forgot to ask permission - brilliant mainsplaining too Grin

NotANotMan · 26/02/2019 20:23

I'm not a notman
Not a man Grin

AliceLiddel · 26/02/2019 20:26

I sat with my 8 and 10 year old, showed them the "mother bird" japanese statue the Momo picture has come from, then showed them the Nomo close up picture. Explained that some people were pretending Momo was real and telling children to do silly and horrible things like cut themselves or saying Momo would come and get them in the night. However, obviously Momo is just a statue and that's not real. Both thought it was pretty pathetic and asked a few questions like "why would someone do that?" but seem ok with it. I told them to pause it and call me if Momo pops up anywhere and that seemed to satisfy them both.

For the record they only watch approved youtube programs, however I did not want to take the risk of it appearing somewhere or someone at school telling them the scary story.

AliceLiddel · 26/02/2019 20:27

...they also dont have mobile phones so the whatsapp / texting angle wouldnt be an issue

calsovip · 26/02/2019 20:31

Its fucking bullshit scaremongering. Show me a video where this is embedded and I may believe you.

I think it's a self fulfilling prophecy. The greater the scaremongering, the more people will create these videos to mess with everyone else "for laughs".

SpinningSister · 26/02/2019 20:32

Oh bloody hell Grin

BertieBotts · 26/02/2019 20:33

That linked video just proves the point spectacularly - it's a spoof based on the whole Momo hoax! And as for why it jumps out, I assume with a sudden noise (I didn't look with speakers on) - that's called a screamer, which is a jump scare prank, the first time I saw one of those on the internet was about 2002. Wikipedia reckons they have been around since 1996:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_scare#Internet_screamers

Mmmhmmm · 26/02/2019 20:36

Why are people letting their kids watch YouTube unsupervised??? Confused

SpinningSister · 26/02/2019 20:39

Bertie, if you mean my video it’s not loud at all, it’s a male deep scary laugh- well it would scare a small person anyway it’s more like a joke laugh.

It’s a really long video and there’s a few of them I just wondered who would make such things to me it looked like it was meant to be filtered in to other videos to be scary.

I don’t know tho and my only child is 5 weeks old so by the time he’s old enough to each tele it will be a brand new problem !

ispepsiok · 26/02/2019 20:48

m.youtube.com/watch?v=yZDyh2TS0mY

My daughter sent me this earlier as we were discussing it. I have no idea what actually happens in the video as I didn't open it so it wouldn't show up in my watched list (just in case!)

I do think that this has now become a 'thing' and more videos are likely to appear due to the hysteria surrounding it and if my DS was watching YouTube unsupervised he could quite possibly play it as it's Peppa Pig.

We're sticking to the official channels and supervised viewing to prevent him watching something inappropriate.

khawk89 · 26/02/2019 21:41

@WellThisIsShit Well that's funny as me and my 5 year old were watching peppa pig on kids youtube and it popped up in the middle of it Hmm