Almost a year after the ‘Blue Whale Challenge’ that reportedly led to the suicide of many youngsters across the world, a new game called ‘Momo Challenge’ is reportedly encouraging kids to perform violent tasks and in the end forcing them to commit suicide. The Momo challenge, viral on social media platforms, especially WhatsApp is allegedly linked to the death of a 12-year-old girl in Argentina, the Buenos Aires Times reported.
This challenged reportedly started in Facebook where the users were ‘challenged’ to communicate with an unknown number. Once the initial contact with a user is established, the Momo account sends a number of challenged and activities that are to be completed to meet ‘Momo’. It allegedly involves challenges that encourage children to engage in a series of violent acts that end with suicide. If a user refuses to follow the game’s orders, Momo threatens them with violent images, The Sun reported. The account appears to be connected to three numbers in Japan, Mexico, and Columbia.
‘Momo’ is a social media account on popular platforms that use an image of a doll with monstrous features, large eyes and a wide mouth to induce curiosity among children, the report added. The artwork called Mother Bird by Link Factory is inspired by the work of a Japanese artist Midori Hayashi, who has no association with the challenge, according to officials.
The officials are linking the death of 12 years old in Argentina to the game. The girl filmed her own death, and the authorities suspect someone encouraged her to take her own life, the Buenos Aires Times reported. The officials are hunting for the “adolescent with whom she exchanged those messages”.
As of now, there are no such reports in India. The officials in India called this game a hoax, a way to steal personal data. Also, they have issued a warning to the parents to monitor the browsing activity of their children.
