YOUTUBE AND THE MOMO CHALLENGE!
The infamous “Momo Challenge”, which usually culminates with self-harm or suicide of the player, is reportedly hacking into children’s programmes on Google-owned video sharing platform YouTube.
Videos of popular kid shows like Peppa Pig on YouTube have been showing the “Momo Challenge” character girl popping up in the middle of the episodes, asking children to hurt others and themselves,
One mom claims she “found clips on YouTube and YouTube Kids that gave children instructions on how to kill themselves,” according to CNN.
The mom, Free Hess says she was alerted by another mom who alleged that about halfway through a cartoon video, the footage was no longer cartoons, but “footage of a man in sunglasses telling children how to slit their wrists.” Hess says she reported the video for removal and YouTube reportedly took a week to remove it from the site. But that’s not where this eye-opener ends! Hess also alleges that she came across “videos glorifying not only suicide but sexual exploitation and abuse, human trafficking, gun violence and domestic violence.” We hear that one of the videos went as far as depicting a school shooting.
YouTube has issued a statement stating
“We appreciate people drawing problematic content to our attention, and make it possible for anyone to flag a video,” the statement said. “Flagged videos are manually reviewed 24/7 and any videos that don’t belong in the app are removed. “We’ve also been investing in new controls for parents including the ability to hand pick videos and channels in the app. We are making constant improvements to our systems and recognize there’s more work to do.”
YouTube urges parents to be more proactive in the things they allow their children to watch online.
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