Photo Credit: Michael Loccisano/Wire Image

So you know about “the tide pod challenge” and “the Keke challenge” that have put kids in the hospital over the last year. Well this is Momo…but it might be more like Bloody Mary?

If you hadn’t heard of the Momo Challenge previously, you’ve probably seen a bunch of conflicting stuff online in the past 48 hours. Concerned parents are posting warning messages to their friends and followers, alerting them of this Momo character who is popping up in the middle of their child’s YouTube video. Momo then instructs the kids to text a WhatsApp number to play a game with 50 “challenges” which eventually ends in harming themselves if they want to “win”.

Kim Kardashian took to her IG story to ask YouTube to do something about it and the website has made a public statement. Check out the screenshots below:

Are y’all checked in on the #MomoChallenge hoax⁉️ @KimKardashian asks @YouTube to address the potential safety issue posed by this harmful challenge 👀 pic.twitter.com/EiLNLuuMFw

— Power 106 (@Power106LA) February 27, 2019

YouTube says it hasn’t seen or received any evidence of videos showing or promoting the “Momo Challenge” on its platform. They say if the videos do exist, it would be a clear violation of its policies and would be removed immediately. YouTube also notes that reposting the image or sharing the video is NOT a violation of their policy, as content creators are allowed to warn their followers about the hoax.

As of now, it looks like experts are telling parents their kids are not in any immediate danger. Instead, if you are a parent or have a small child in your life, you are encouraged to talk to your child about the video and in addition to monitoring their app usage more carefully, urge them to never contact any strangers or follow instructions given to them online and to alert a grown-up if something doesn’t seem right.

There could in fact be a sicko who came up with this character but it seems more likely that people are just believing