An important warning to parents about the “Momo Challenge” and Self-Harm videos targeting kids

 

I was preparing to make a blog post to comment on the sudden rise of self-harm videos that have been reported on YouTube Kids all month when I got word of this imfamous Momo Challenge that has been reported worldwide. At this point I think it would be fair to say it’s not an urban legend and is in fact a real thing. Local Law Enforcement are trying to get the word out because the Momo Challenge threatens and encourages kids and teens to do dangerous things and eventually, suicide.

Here’s how it starts: Users are asked to add Momo as a WhatsApp contact via YouTube, Facebook or some other social media platform. It specifically targets kids, teens and in some cases Young Adults. Once the connection is made, things immediately get scary…and dangerous…and possibly deadly, too. The entity known as Momo makes contact and immediately threatens and intimidatinng the victim into doing what it says, saying things like “I’m watching you” or “If you tell anyone, you’ll die”. Kids as young as six years old have apparently been targeted by this Momo Challenge. It specifically targets children and teens because they’re far more likely to accept what they see at face value and do what they’re being told.

I do believe Momo is actually a botting program that is being intentionally spread online. There certainly are chat bots sophisticated enough to carry a conversation as if it was a real person. They do what they’re programmed to do in short. Of course, I would be able to tell the difference fairly quickly between a bot or a real person. A child? Absolutely not. Certainly not a 6 year old. On the one hand, it’s fine to ignore the messages. On the other hand, kids are being specifically targeted. So…yeah.

I mentioned other self-harm videos.

Even worse is both the Momo Challenge and other self-harm videos seem to have hijacked YouTube Kids, which is a kid-friendly version of YouTube. Google, which is aware is trying to address the problem but for now it’s highly reccommended you uninstall the YouTube and YouTube Kids Apps from your kids’ devices for now and block the site on your computers at home. Why go that far? Well, the self-harm videos, which describe in graphic detail how to commit suicide are disguised as innocent-looking cartoons kids are familiar with. It starts looking normal but then it gets dark and scary. Even worse is it ends by encouraging kids to go through with it.

…Yeah.

There are some sick, sick people out there sadly.

I would reccommend parents sit down and talk to their kids about the Momo Challenge as well as the Self-Harm videos. Tell them if they see anything online telling them or showing them how to hurt themselves to report the content immediately and don’t do what it says. Let them know all actions have consequences not just for them but everyone they know.

I intend to repost this on a few more of my blogs to help spread the word on this. One death from this foolishness is too many.

To the internet tough guys and trolls who think this is hoax, “Don’t see a problem” or feel “They’re doing parents a service”, you won’t feel that way when it’s your child or the child of someone you know. I promise you that. While yes, I certainly don’t think kids as young as 3 shouldn’t be using the internet unsupervised, that doesn’t excuse the malicious and vile actions of the people who are doing and spreading these things online. Show me a 3, 4 or 5 year old child who has never seen one of these videos before who would watch them and think it’s just ‘harmless fun”.

There is absolutely nothing “harmless” or “fun” about what these self-harm videos and the Momo Challenge are looking to intimidate and scare kids into doing. Yes, they revealed some glaring flaws in YouTube and YouTubeKids’ (and Facebook’s) prescreening algorithms but it doesn’t change the fact someone is deliberately doing this. The disturbing content is embedded in episodes of kids’ programming and uploaded to YouTube. In other words, someone is deliberately doing this for the sole purpose to traumatizing a child at best and coercing them into doing what they’re being told at worst. To date, 2 kids in Columbia (the country) have committed suicide because of these self-harm videos.

The disturbing content appears about 14 to 16 minutes into an otherwise normal episode of children’s programming and lasts for about 20 to 30 seconds. Short enough to not get picked up by YouTube’s pre-screening algorithims but still long enough to deliver its vile message. I have seen the messages myself and for reasons that should be obvious, I am not sharing here what is said. I will say for the Momo Challenge users are directed to add a phone number from Mexico, Russia or India to their contacts and contact Momo via WhatsApp under threat of death to them and/or their friends. Again: young children are being specifically targeted. They have no way of knowing they have nothing to fear from what they saw.

Like I said before, I do believe Momo–like Blue Whale before it–is a chat bot. It’s not an actual person but a scripting program someone made to sow chaos. I also believe the phone number is randomly generated and this is also why I am not sharing any numbers. Again, a young child would not know it’s not a real person. All they know is they’re being told to hurt themselves or put themselves in dangerous situations in very specific ways and if they don’t do what they’re told, something bad will happen to them or the people they care about. They are directed to not tell anyone or “I will know” and “I can see you right now so I’ll know if you tell anyone” obviously. Again, young kids who don’t know better are being exposed to this.

I am urging folks to reblog this post and help get the word out. The whole world is talking about this. That’s how serious this is. No one is taking this as “a hoax”. Kids are getting hurt at worst and in two cases, someone has died. This is one “game” that needs to be stopped immediately.

 

Speaking of. I actually did see an anime with a similar premise on Crunchyroll two years ago:

 

Its premise is very similar to The Momo Challenge and Blue Whale: “Players” must hurt someone else or themselves to stay in the “game”. If they don’t do as instructed within a certain timeframe, the player will be “punished”. By “Punished” I mean they will brutally die via supernatural means. The King’s Game itself–not the anime–is no different from say, Simon Says and Truth or Dare. Mostly harmless. The Anime takes things to a disturbing, macabre extreme.

The Anime doesn’t have any connection to The Momo Challenge or Blue Whale despite the obvious similarities. A key difference is absolutely nothing will happen to you if you do not do what you’re told in the Momo Challenge or Blue Whale.

 

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Yes, Japan has a significant number of “shut-in” young adults called Hikikomori

 

While doing an image search, I found this article on the topic extremely helpful. I highly reccommend reading it.

Suffice to say, the rest of the world is starting to really pay attention to the phenomenon in Japan called Hikikomori. The reason Hikikomori is extremely rare in the US compared to Japan is primarily cultural. In the US, most parents will not tolerate their adult children isolating themselves in the home indefinitely and more so if they’re not working or in college unless they have a significant health condition. In Japan, Amoe is the reason adult parents of Hikikomori will continue to take care of them.

For those who don’t know, Amoe basically means “No matter how old they are, they are still your kids. You should love and take care for your children always.” Of course, some Japanese parents are (far) more tolerant than others. In some extreme cases, parents will hire people to forcefully remove their Hikikomori child from their bedroom and drag them outside (with disasterous results of course). Some Hikikomori do live on their own, sometimes in an apartment being paid for by their parents. That said, not all Hikikomori are young adults. The overwhelming majority–80%–are young men. There certainly are female Hikikomori but since culturally and historically it’s considered the norm for unmarried women to live with their parents in Japan, they often go unreported as Hikikomori. From what I’ve been reading, almost all Hikikomori live in cities as well.

 

 

Hikikomori has become a serious problem in Japan and now quite common. Numbers put Hikikomori at over a million a few years back.

As a reminder, Japan is home to the largest senior population in the world. Most of its aging population is retired, close to retiring or is of age to be retired. Between that and Japan’s merit-based immigration policies, their workforce is in danger of being seriously compromised. No one has been able to figure out a singular reason or cause for the start and continued rising number of Hikikomori. Everyone has a theory of their own.

That includes me:

…Karoshi.

It means death by overwork in Japanese. It’s a serious problem in Japan and has been for almost 30 years now. On average, over 2,000 people commit suicide in Japan due to severe overwork. This is to aside from those who literally drop dead from a heart attack or stroke directly related to severe overwork. Again, the reason such a thing is so common in Japan is mostly cultural. It’s the norm in any society to want to work hard to earn a raise or promotion. The problem is in Japan, too often many employers exploit their employers and labor ethics commonplace in most of the developed world is not in place in Japan.

Japan is taking some steps to address the problem that is now simultaneously threatening their workforce and economy. One is requiring all employers to give everyone an hour to sleep during the day and requiring non-essential employees to be off the clock after 3PM on the last Friday of the month so they have extra downtime. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who promised to spearhead Labor Reform actually vetoed legislation that would have put limits on how many consecutive hours a week employers were allowed to let their employees work. He vetoed it because the bill did not account for Public Transit employees, who are considered Essential Employees in Japan. For those who might not know, yes Japan does have paid Maternity Leave guaranteed for all (The US doesn’t have this mandated). As a reminder: Tokyo will host the 2020 Summer Olympics.

…Getting back to the main topic now.

It’s hard to believe there isn’t some kind of connection between Karoshi and Hikikomori. Those who are Hikikomori have basically given up on society and isolate themselves as a coping mechanism. Enormous Stress is placed on many of them from the moment they enter their senior year of high school. They’re expected to have a job or college waiting for them by the time they graduate. That’s something those of us in the West can relate to if that was all. The difference is it’s an unwritten graduation requirement to be accepted at a well known college or goo-paying job. Not just for the family but the high school as well. Same with college students in their final year. They are expected to have several job offers waiting for them by the time they graduate and…yeah.

There’s no way these Hikikomori are not aware of Karoshi. They feel like they’re in a lose-lose situation where success is unattainable but giving up in not an option. So, they shut down socially.

 

The issue of the Hikikomori is being taken very seriously as it should be. Some non-profits, business owners as well as former Hikikomori are putting their heads together to find ways to reintegrate the isolated back into society. One venture that recently made the news worldwide are “professional” girlfriends or boyfriends. In short, families can hire someone for their son or daughter to befriend, fall in love with and spend time with. The idea is to get them to willingly want to get out and back into the world.

In many cases, some non-profits offer job training to Hikikomori who have either been away for years or want a refresher before the start looking for work somewhere. In other cases, former Hikikomori turned business owners offer jobs to recover Hikikomori to help them build confidence. There is a lot of promise and progress but more needs to be done.

…This is my first time writing a blog post that had nothing to do with Anime or Manga but I felt it was too important to not talk about. I definitely plan to write more blogs like this in the future!

 

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Vic Mignogna is beginning to pay the price for his arrogance

 

…I do feel like at this point, it’s safe to say we may be seeing the beginning of the end of Vic Mignogna’s professional career as an actor and voice actor.

 

Anime News Network’s January 30 article (a new window will open) sums up the situation better than I ever could and I urge you to read it if you haven’t yet. As noted in the article, they like everyone else was hesitant to run the story simply because of the man involved: Legendary English voice actor Vic Mignogna. Above are pics of him with 8 of his most known roles. He voiced Broly in the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie as well.

It’s pretty obvious from reading the article much care was taken by the author to keep their emotions in check and not appear to favor one side over the other. Clearly it was a story that they had been working on for years at least with the sources vetted for accuracy. While most of the allegations come from congoers and all of them come years after the fact, some have come from fellow voice actors as well. The allegations come from men as well as women.

Anime News Network provided an update here in which it was announced Vic has been removed from RWBY. The article also notes Vic’s appearances at 13 convention appearances were cancelled but he is still booked for five. Over the years, more and more conventions have been quietly blacklisting him because of the unsolicited inappropriate physical contact alleged by congoers backed by witnesses.

 

Speaking of conventions. I made a thread on Anime Boston’s forums last week requesting comment. Chris O’Donnell, who is Anime Boston’s Director of Public Relations responded shortly after I made the thread:

“Mr. Mignonga has not been a Guest of Honor at Anime Boston since 2006. None of the reported allegations, as far as we are aware, occurred at Anime Boston. As such, we have no comment regarding these reports at this time.”

For reasons that should be obvious, he is not at liberty to say any more than that. Anime Boston does have actual experience in the area of invited Guests of Honor being the subject of allegations like this. A few years ago, longtime convention guest and voice actor Tom Wayland sexually assaulted a female convention staff member. The incident reportedly happened in the Sheraton Hotel, which is one of the venues used by the convention and it happened during the weekend-long event. He was a convention favorite alongside fellow longtime guest Greg Ayers and often brought his kids with him to the convention.

The New England Anime Society (NEAS), which is the parent company of Anime Boston banned him for life and the victim took him to court. That was the incident that made congoers realize they needed to be mindful of inappropriate conduct not just from other congoers or members of the public but people from the industry as well. NEAS set the standard for how all conventions should approach allegations involving people from the industry and public figures. You certainly don’t ignore or silence those who come forward.

Getting back to Vic’s indescretions. He did put out a public statement on January 21 which Anime News Network included in the first link from above and it is mostly in reaction to a Twitter thread from January 16. Here it is in full:

Most of it is the usual victim blaming and “They just want to ruin me” drivel you would come to expect from a public figure. In response to the allegations of inappropriate physical contact with Congoers and fellow industry members, he basically waves it off as “That’s how I interact with my family” and that’s the problem. You’re not meeting with family. You are meeting with members of the general public. Yes they’re fans of your work but that doesn’t give you a free pass to do whatever you want. He does say at the end he will change how he interacts from now on because of how much attention it’s been getting lately first and more likely his bottom line is being effected second. He let the fame go to his head in short.

This past weekend, Vic issued a public statement at a convention and was likely in reaction to the ANN article:

This should have come 10+ years ago.

For those who don’t know, he was approached about the allegations MANY TIMES by people in the industry. Fellow voice actress Monica Rial mentioned via Twitter she confronted him about it twice and complained to others higher up and she was silenced. Why was her voice, those involved and many others silenced or ignored?

Because it’s Vic Mignogna that’s why.

It’s clear in the video he finally got it and owns up to how he made so many people feel for almost 20 years. I don’t doubt the sincerity in the video at all and it’s clear he knows he hurt alot of people and let a lot of people down. I just hope he knows there is no one thing he could do that would make everything right.

I doubt everyone will forgive him but seeing as he did finally own it and apologized, his longtime fan club the Risembool Rangers needs to follow his lead and apologize for their part in helping to surpress the voices of those who spoke up over the years. Blind faith is no faith at all. No one is perfect and he has shown remorse for how he made others feel. His willingness do that shows me he is truly sorry. The thing those who insist on defending him no matter what need to prepare themselves for is more coming forward as well as civil lawsuits against him. Most likely he will settle as many of them out of court as possible. No one is perfect and when the people we look up to make mistakes, they should be held accountable. More so when they’re public figures.

It is important to know that there are no winners in a situation like this.

Vic’s reputation is permanently tarnished, alot of people who violated and many more people were silenced. Hopefully everyone involved can find peace. I don’t think this will destroy Vic professionally and more so now that he’s publicly apologized and owned it. I do think he should cancel his 5 remaining convention appearances for the year and take some time away from voice work though. He can make a comeback but first he should step away for a bit.

 

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