A Yorkton mother is voicing concerns about the Momo Challenge after she says her son tried to harm himself.
Melissa Mitchell is a mother of two and first heard about the Momo Challenge four days ago.
The images matched the description of a character her son Jackson had seen online three months earlier. He called the image "the chicken lady."
“It had black eyes, black hair and it looks like what Jackson was describing to me,” Mitchell said. “So I clicked on the image and it showed her legs and the legs were chicken legs. So in a five-year-old’s mind that’s exactly what it was – a chicken lady.”
It wasn’t just the image that shocked Mitchell, she was also appalled by the message behind it.
“He would say that the chicken lady was going to come kill him at 3 a.m. and that the chicken lady was going to come and kill us,” she said.
Mitchell assumed it was just night terrors until she found marks on his neck as if he was trying to hurt himself. She says it was influenced by the Momo image.
“No matter where he saw it or how he saw it, it’s very real,” she said.
While Mitchell said she uses privacy restriction for online videos, social media experts warn that sometimes restrictions aren’t enough.
“Any channel unsupervised could have potentially disturbing or inappropriate content,” said Dr. Alec Couros, professor of education technology in media at the University of Regina.
“So even if you block all the things that you believe could be damaging to your child, there can be things that get through.”
Fact-checking site snopes.com says the Momo image is actually a sculpture from a Japanese special effects company that has been co-opted.
“It’s a hoax, an online hoax, but obviously if a young person was to see this on their screen it would be extremely scary and frightening,” said Cst. Mark Smith of the Calgary Police Service.
However, RCMP in Saskatchewan has yet to receive an official complaint regarding the Momo Challenge, but are taking the matter seriously.
“I would suggest just contact their police jurisdiction, make the complaint and we’ll take it from there,” said Staff Sgt. Scott Lambie, provincial co-ordinator of the Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation Unit.
“Maybe there’s something that can be done, but maybe there isn’t. But you never know until you make that initial complaint.”
Mitchell chose not to file an official police report, but hopes her experience will serve as a reminder to other parents to pay attention to what their kids are watching online.
Based on reporting by CTV’s Alessandra Carniero
