Family

Local police respond to disturbing 'Momo' suicide challenge

On Wednesday, local police departments took to social media to make parents aware of the "Momo Challenge" affecting children and teenagers.

Posted Updated

By
Jessica Patrick
, WRAL digital journalist
SPRING HOPE, N.C. — Word of a disturbing suicide challenge is spreading across the country and right here in the Triangle.

On Wednesday, local officials took to social media to make parents aware of the "Momo Challenge" affecting children and teenagers.

Durham Emergency Communications posted an alert to parents, stating, "Talk to your children and educate them on appropriate web content and encourage them to openly communicate what they are experiencing with you. Let them know why some of these challenges are unsafe."

Durham officials posted that the Momo Challenge, which features an image of a thin, bug-eyed woman and encourages young users to perform dangerous behaviors and stunts, including suicide, has spread to YouTube, YouTube Kids, WhatsApp, Fortnite and Facebook.

Momo is originally a Japanese statue. The challenge is to meet Momo by following a series of instructions, which can include harming others or yourself.

The Momo Challenge has been linked to the death of a girl in Argentina, but none in the United States.

Parents at Spring Hope Elementary School told police that their children reported the disturbing image "popping up” during particular YouTube videos.

On Wednesday, YouTube posted: "We've seen no recent evidence of videos promoting the Momo Challenge on YouTube. Videos encouraging harmful and dangerous challenges are against our policies."

Officials believe the challenge has been around since 2018 but was recently embedded into certain programs viewed by children and sent on texting applications like WhatsApp.

While the challenge may be prevalent among teenagers, parents are worried that it is also affecting much younger kids.

The Spring Hope Police Department posted on Facebook Wednesday that Spring Hope Elementary School notified parents about the challenge.

According to Spring Hope police, they also received a report that someone was sent a link to participate in the challenge.

"While the police department is not sure if the challenge is real or a hoax, it is important to make parents aware of the potential danger of the report and to encourage that parents are monitoring their children’s social media and internet activity," the post read.

 Credits 

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.