Various Internet warnings and lurid tabloid media reports claim that the Internet meme Momo is “hacking” into YouTube videos aimed towards children, specifically of Peppa Pig and Fortnite.
Such warnings and reports vaguely claim that images of the creepy meme of Momo (which is actually a Japanese sculpture) have been spliced into the halfway points of otherwise innocent videos of cartoons.
It is important to understand two things; firstly, the claim that “Momo” has “hacked” into innocent YouTube videos doesn’t make any sense, and as such is entirely false. Secondly, while the claim is nonsensical, many videos on YouTube do contain images of the Momo meme, many of which may exist to deliberately scare or spook viewers. We also found a number of spoof Peppa Pig videos not suitable for children. However YouTube has claimed they have seen no evidence of recent videos promoting Momo in the way described in these warnings.
And while we have not been able to find such an instance, it is not outside the realms of possibility that pranksters may upload cartoon videos that do feature Momo making inappropriate or violent comments towards the viewer.
We will clarify both these points below.
There has been a plethora of alarmist misinformation circulating the Internet – fuelled by erroneous media reports – regarding the Momo meme. One such example of this misinformation is the willingness to assign extraordinary cyber-themed abilities to what is ultimately just an online meme, and this misinformation is causing plenty of confusion online. Rumours have claimed that “Momo” can magically appear on someone’s device, “hack” video games or in this case “hack” otherwise innocent YouTube videos.
Instances of this include Heart.co.uk’s headline of “Terrifying Momo challenge is ‘hacking’ YouTube peppa pig videos” and The Mirror UK writes “Momo challenge is ‘hacking’ Peppa Pig, Fortnite and YouTube warns school“.
You can’t realistically “hack” videos on YouTube, since the claim makes little sense. Only the person who uploaded a video can in any way edit it, assuming they don’t compromise their YouTube account. If a video contained nothing but an innocent cartoon before, that is almost certainly still the case. For example the Peppa Pigg Official Channel – the official YouTube channel of Peppa Pig, which at the time of writing has 7.4 million subscribers, hundreds of videos and countless hours of Peppa Pig, is still perfectly safe and will not contain content unsafe for children. (Of course it is still up to parents to ensure children stick to this channel; Playlists can help in that respect.)
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There may be no “hacking” going on, but there is little stopping pranksters and cyber bullies from uploading their own inappropriate content.
We searched for hours – enough hours to never want to see a Peppa Pig episode ever again – looking for instances where the Momo meme appeared halfway during an innocent looking video featuring the cartoon, but we could not locate any, and despite many reports of such, no one we reached out to was able to provide a YouTube link containing such a video.
With that said, we did locate a number of parody or spoof Peppa Pig videos on scarcely viewed channels that were certainly inappropriate for children, including a video containing excessive profanity, thumbnails featuring Peppa Pig bleeding or holding a gun, and a number of parody Peppa Pig videos featuring characters and storylines that could alarm younger children.
And inevitably we did see a number of YouTube videos featuring Momo, including videos that were designed to scare the viewer, and many other videos purporting (falsely) that Momo is real as well as purporting to have “video evidence” (these videos are essentially akin to mini horror shorts based on urban folklore.)
Given the extraordinary reach that the Momo Challenge has had across the Internet, we cannot dismiss the possibility that pranksters looking to scare younger children may upload their own videos featuring the Momo meme spliced into innocent cartoons. Of course, this isn’t “hacking” – it is merely uploading your own prank videos designed to scare children. However, according to YouTube themselves, they’ve seen no videos promoting the Momo challenge in the way described in these warnings.
We want to clear something up regarding the Momo Challenge: We’ve seen no recent evidence of videos promoting the Momo Challenge on YouTube. Videos encouraging harmful and dangerous challenges are against our policies.
As we alluded to above, sticking to reputable channels or videos you know to be safe should be sufficient to avoiding these imposter videos. However we also discuss some more tips on keeping kids safe when watching videos below.
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As we have said in other articles, the Momo craze ultimately serves as a reminder that the Internet isn’t always a safe place for children, and that concerned parents should follow some simple tips to help protect their children as they use the Internet to watch online videos.
– Consider using paid platforms like Netflix Kids. For younger children, platforms like YouTube may be too risky since there will always be a chance viewers are exposed to inappropriate content. Services like Netflix Kids monitor content in a more hands-on way than services like YouTube, assuring no adult content gets through.
– Supervise younger children. YouTube is a video platform geared towards adults, not young children. While many types of content goes against their policies, there is a great deal of permitted adult content on the site, and prohibited content may still be present as well. As such, young children should always be supervised if a parent allows them to use YouTube, so a parent can intervene if a child stumbles on adult content.
– Use YouTube Kids. YouTube kids is an app for phones or tablets that filters out adult themed content and is much safer than the standard YouTube platform. However adult content can still make its way onto YouTube Kids, so younger children should still be supervised if allowed on this app. You can also set parental controls on YouTube Kids for younger and older children.
– Use official YouTube channels and their playlists. Official channels aimed at kids such as the Peppa Pig Official Channel will not contain adult content (and they’ve not been “hacked”.) Stick to these channels, and use playlists if available (which play a number of videos from that channel one after the other) to ensure kids don’t wander off the channel.
– Familiarise yourself with children’s favourite apps/platforms. This gives a parent a chance to check out the content themselves pre-emptively as well as parental controls that may be available.
– Keep communication open. Regardless of what platform children use, make sure your children know to come to their parents if they see something that worries or frightens them. Tell children not to keep worrying content to themselves.