SOURCE: https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/25/tech/youtube-suicide-videos-trnd/index.html
WARNING: This article may contain a triggering or sensitive description of self harm.
VALDOSTA – While most parents expect – and hope – allowing their kids to use a child-friendly version of YouTube Kids is safe, some moms are finding disturbing videos on the platform that show otherwise.
Online bogeyman continue to flourish, hearkening back to the origins of “Slenderman,” a completely fictitious character which has, and continues to, take on ominously real proportions. Manifestations such as these are growing more complex.
This is how myths and legends are often born, but also how vulnerable children wind up committing acts that cannot be undone.
Parents, beware.
Free Hess, a pemother in Florida, told CNN that she found clips not only on YouTube, but YouTube Kids, showing children how to kill themselves. She told CNN that it made her “angry, sad and frustrated.”
In one of the videos – a typical kid-friendly cartoon – was a spliced-in clip of a 30-something man in a classroom-like environment, holding his forearm up saying, “Remember, sideways for attention, longways for results! End it!”
This how-to on successful wrist-slashing suicide prompted Hess, who writes a blog (https://pedimom.com/) to act fast. She immediately flagged and reported the video but it took YouTube Kids a week to remove the video.
The blatant instruction did not go away for long, however.
After all of the effort, Hess saw the video make yet another appearance – this time on mainstream YouTube. The video was flagged by Hess and others and was taken down again after several days.
CNN reported that the Florida mother started exploring YouTube Kids further and found videos that glorified suicide, sexual exploitation, abuse, human trafficking, gun violence, and domestic violence. There was even a video inspired by one of the most prominent video games, “Minecraft,” depicting a school shooting.
YouTube made a statement saying that they work to make the videos on YouTube Kids family friendly and that they take feedback very seriously.
CNN published a statement from YouTube Kids which reads:
“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.”
CNN.com
Nevertheless, Hess wants them to do a better job of screening the videos that are imported to YouTube Kids. She stated that she wants them to “respond better when people report offensive videos,” and that they should be taken down immediately.
Although YouTube is quicker when pulling these videos from YouTube Kids, by the time they are reported, Hess believes it could have already caused harm to a child. She expressed to CNN, “there is a disconnect between what kids know about technology and what their parents know because the parents didn’t grow up with it.”
To attack this problem, Hess says parents should team up and that, “we all need to fix this together.”
Perhaps equally disturbing is the “Momo Challenge,” which has made the rounds on WhatsApp and other social media sites since approximately mid-2018. Calls from unknown numbers not in contact lists are received at which point instructions begin, attempting to pass itself off as a game.
The calls on WhatsApp lead the “game” players on a creepy challenge over 50 days asking players to engage in dangerous acts. Various YouTube videos show users calling the number, “81345102539,” after which disturbing messages immediately begin to appear. In one such video, the channel owner AldosWorld TV, makes quite a spectacle of himself interacting with “Momo,” which was posted in July 25, 2018 – and racked up over five million views.
In the video, “Momo” berates him for calling her “Momo,” and that he should instead address her as “Maria,” which leads to a story about how she had been loved and abandoned by a man after which she drowned her sons and then herself (https://youtu.be/GNfGIawwdRE).
The “Momo Challenge” is called a hoax, but for impressionable children, these “games” can become serious.
A 12-year-old girl in Argentina killed herself after playing the game, leaving a video on her phone of the tasks she completed prior to her death.
From watching a horror movie to engaging in self-harm and taking their own lives, these “games” should be taken seriously by parents and not taken lightly by children. This has become a global phenomenon that though deemed a hoax, still causes harm on impressionable viewers.
The origin of the creepy “Mojo” avatar is from a sculpture created by Japanese artist Keisuke Aisawa at a special effects firm, and the online presence has grown from there.
Once contact is initiated with Momo, texts and audio messages follow – ranging from basic repartee to even blackmail threatening to harm family members if Momo’s challenges are not fulfilled.
Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Stryde Jones, and Valdosta Police Department Lt. Adam Bembry both reported upon request that nothing has become known to either of their agencies regarding Momo or other online suicide-prompters.
Make sure you pay attention to what your children are watching online.
For parents there are monitoring applications for WhatsApp, like “Bark” https://www.bark.us/.
More information can be found here: https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/disturbing-video-on-youtube-kids-app-instructed-children-how-to-commit-suicide/1812829270
And here: https://youtu.be/T4CPbUL76Og
And here: https://youtu.be/BljeROiohuc
