INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Be warned, YouTube creators: Making videos about the latest viral hoax, the &Momo challenge,& will not make you money
Over the past couple of days, the Momo challenge has gone viral once again, leading to a sharp increase in news coverage and the number of
YouTube videos discussing the topic of the creepy character and the supposed &challenge& that encourages kids to commit acts of
self-harm.
The Momo challenge itself isn&t real, to be clear.
As meticulously documented by Taylor Lorenz at The Atlantic, it just the
latest resurgence of an urban myth that has reared its head repeatedly over the years
In reality, &Momo& was a sculpture created by the artist Keisuke Aisawa
Photographs of its frightening form made their way to Instagram and Reddit after being exhibited in Tokyo a couple of years ago
Thus, an urban legend was born, Lorenz explained.
According to one version of the myth, Momo sends kids instructions to harm themselves on
But urban legends take on many variations over time.
For example, my child entire third grade class currently believes that Momo will
randomly appear in YouTube videos and then come out of your sink drain
(This, also, is not true!)
Over the past few days, a social media post from Kim Kardashian and a lot of irresponsible reporting by local
news outlets amplified the hoax, warning parents and schools of the dangerous &self harm& challenge
That, in turn, led to more &Momo& videos on YouTube, and a flood of posts across all other social media sites.
The Verge reported this
morning that YouTube had begun demonetizing Momo videos on YouTube.
However, a spokesperson at YouTube clarified to TechCrunch that it
wasn&t taking action against Momo videos as some sort of new policy or decision on the company part
It was simply enforcing its current policies.
The company existing advertiser-friendly guidelines, which govern the kinds of videos on which
it shows ads, do not allow to be monetized any videos that discuss a harmful or dangerous act
That includes any videos from news outlets referencing the Momo challenge, or those from other YouTube creators
This is the same policy that prevented from showing advertising prior YouTube videos about other dangerous challenges and hoaxes, they also
For example, any video about the Tide Pods challenge or the choking challenge could not show ads.
Demonetizing videos, to be clear, is not
the same thing as disallowing the videos from showing on YouTube
The site today permits news stories and videos that are intended to raise awareness of and educate against the challenge, the spokesperson
explained — like those from news outlets.
However, content that promotes the Momo challenge that is not news, educational or documentary
footage is prohibited on the site.
YouTube additionally reaffirmed that the company hadn&t seen any evidence ofMomo videos on its platform
until widespread media coverage began
And it had not received any links flagged or otherwise shared with the company about videos that either showed or promoted the Momo
challenge directly.
&Contrary to press reports, we&ve not received any recent evidence of videos showing or promoting the Momo challenge on
Content of this kind would be in violation of our policies and removed immediately,& YouTube said, in a statement.
In addition, no Momo
videos should be discoverable on YouTube kid-friendly app, YouTube Kids, the spokesperson said
And no such content has ever been found in the YouTube Kids app, to date.
Though YouTube hasn&t implemented a new policy here, simply having
its name in the press around unsafe, scary content targeting children comes at a bad time for the company, which only yesterday turned off
comments on videos of children after reports of a pedophile ring operating within the comments sections of videos
And it the latest in a longer string of controversies around advertiser-unfriendly content and false information, which has led to other
changes around its policies, including, most recently, the demonetization of anti-vaccination videos.
But in the case of Momo, YouTube isn&t
the only platform afflicted by the hoax — the topic is being discussed across social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram and
