Nurseries warn parents about creepy Momo suicide scare

Nurseries and schools across Britain are warning parents that even Peppa Pig is not safe from a sinister Momo character infiltrating children’s iPads.

Scary Momo image

Headteachers and nursery leaders have written to parents to say children are being told to harm or kill themselves by Momo, a chilling character popping up in children's programmes online.

People intent on scaring others have reportedly been using an image of a warped face with bug-like eyes – known as Momo.

The sinister image of Momo has been seen by children using tablets and smart phones, who are watching children's shows online including Peppa Pig.

Unofficial copies of shows such as Peppa Pig have been uploaded to YouTube with footage of Momo edited in. Children watching these uploads are exposed to distressing images.

Schools have told parents one episode of Peppa Pig uploaded to YouTube, changes to include violent images and bad language.

Children have reportedly been urged to do dangerous things like turn the gas on in the house or find and swallow tablets, without telling their parents, prompting schools to issue warnings that children could harm themselves or others.

Reports of children being encouraged to hold a knife to their own throat or threaten family members or classmates have circulated in the media.

Fears in nurseries and schools across the country focus on children seeing the Momo image in unofficial Peppa Pig clips and other online videos, games and apps.

Advice from schools and nurseries

Ore Village Primary Academy in Hastings told parents: 'As you may have read in the news recently the Momo Challenge is an extremely disturbing game that conceals itself within other harmless looking games and online videos played by children.

Several children have come into school today talking and worrying about the content. We thought it might be beneficial for you to know some of the facts.

When downloaded, it asks the user to communicate with “Momo” via popular messaging applications such as WhatsApp. It is at this point that children are threatened that they will be cursed or their family will be hurt if they do not self-harm. Children are also asked for personal information.

Whilst the threat of a curse may sound silly to an adult, it could be a very frightening prospect for a young child and they may feel under pressure to carry out acts to protect themselves or their family from harm.

We advise that parents supervise the games their children play and be extremely mindful of the videos they are watching on YouTube. All devices should have parental controls on and should only allow your children access to age-suitable content.'

Northfield Infants and Nursery School in Letchworth told parents they had not discussed Momo 'with pupils directly as we do not want to draw attention to it or give any additional coverage. It is, however, a rather sinister item that is being embedded into videos and apps. It is definitely not something our pupils should be accessing'.

Blackshaw Lane Primary and Nursery School in Royton advised parents of younger children 'to install YouTube Kids, a more controlled version of YouTube intended for families, for better control of what young children may come across online'.

Factsheet sent to parents with safety tips

Tips for parents

Schools have sent parents child safety tips, with some parents receiving a factsheet produced by National Online Safety.

Tips for parents include telling children the pictures aren’t real, setting parental controls, reporting and blocking the particular site and ensuring a parent is present when a child is online.

The safety handout stated: 'The image of the Momo character can be deeply distressing to children and young people and it's important to note that it may slip through parental settings and filters.

'As a parent, it's difficult to spot these videos as the harmful content does not appear until partway through the video.'

It advises that when setting parental controls: 'You can turn off suggested auto-play on videos to stop your child reviewing content that they have not directly selected'.