(WFLA) – A disturbing viral challenge is starting to make its rounds on social media again, causing a lot of alarm for parents.
The “Momo Challenge” has schools and police warning parents to be aware of what their children are looking at online. The challenge isn’t new, but started going viral again over the weekend after the Police Service of Northern Ireland posted a warning on Facebook.
“This game conceals itself within other harmless-looking games played by our kids,” the post says. “There has [sic] also been reports of the game being viewable on YouTube.”
The police department posted the warning with a photo of the character known as “Momo.” When downloaded, police say it tells children to communicate with them via WhatsApp and other popular apps. Police say “Momo” will tell your child to harm themselves or else she will put a curse on them.
The creepy image used for the “Momo Challenge” is actually a sculpture of a woman with bulging eyes and stringy hair that was created by a Japanese artist who is not associated with the game.
This is not the first time the “game” has gone viral. Reports originally surfaced last summer. Before that, a similar warning was issued about a game called “Blue Whale.”
“Our advice as always is to supervise the games your kids play and be extremely mindful of the videos they are watching on YouTube,” Northern Ireland police said in their post. “Ensure that the devices they have access to are restricted to age-suitable content.”
