YouTube puts warnings on Momo videos flagging 'offensive' content but still refuses to remove them
- Concerns 'momo' game was encouraging self-harm have been played down
- But parents are angry that videos featuring the doll appear on YouTube
- The website is removing doll images from Kids app and putting in warnings
- They say videos which do not glorify so-called 'challenge' remain on the site
YouTube has put warnings on 'Momo' videos amid widespread concern among parents about the impact on children.
Parents have reported youngsters as being distressed after coming across pictures of the doll - originally a Japanese artwork - popping up in online videos.
'Momo challenge' messages that uses the doll imagery have been linked by authorities in other countries with self-harm and even suicide, although charities in the UK said there is no evidence of a link between Momo and British children being harmed.
Despite this, videos featuring images of the doll are still appearing on YouTube, with parents reporting the gaunt face appearing during Peppa Pig clips.
YouTube has now responded by putting warnings on those videos it has been alerted to, but is not removing them.
A 'Momo' video that has been viewed 150,000 since it was uploaded to YouTube last August tells the viewer: 'You are going to die' remains on the website more than six months on
After YouTube was alerted to the video by MailOnline, they put this warning ahead of the footage. The website is also banning so-called 'momo' images from its Kids app
MailOnline found one sinister video which features the voice of a little girl singing 'momo's going to kill you' and 'at night she'll come when you're in bed'.
The video has been on the site since August last year and has been viewed nearly 150,000 times.
After being alerted to the website, YouTube inserted a warning in front of the video, stating that the footage had been identified as 'inappropriate or offensive to some audiences'.
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YouTube's policy is only to remove videos which 'promote, glorify or provide instructions' of the challenge said to be behind reports of deaths in other countries.
But the website is attempting to ban the image of the doll from its Kids app, which is designed to include only child-friendly content.
At the time of writing, around 80 videos showing or discussing the 'momo' phenomenon had been uploaded to the site in the past 12 hours, showing the amount of content YouTube is attempting to monitor.
Videos featuring 'momo' are still appearing on YouTube. The website will only remove those which 'glorify' the associated 'challenge'
The National Online Safety Group have release information for parents on Momo, but charities say authorities should not overreact
Those videos recently uploaded include the footage of Momo spliced into a Peppa Pig cartoon, about which parents complained earlier this week.
Earlier this week, Victoria Turner, of Leicester, said her seven-year-old daughter Callie had banged her head against the wall after seeing the figure pop up while watching YouTube.
Lyn Dixon of Edinburgh and separately Sophie Giblin, from Withernsea, near Hull, made similar claims that the figure appeared while their sons were watching videos online.
A hairdresser in Gloucestershire meanwhile told how a five-year-old girl hacked off her hair after seeing the images while watching YouTube.
YouTube has insisted it has no evidence of videos promoting the Momo challenge itself being shared in recent days.
The National Online Safety Group issued advice telling parents to speak to their children about being careful over what they watch and share.
But charities have warned against authorities overreacting and insist there is no link between the phenomenon and suicide in the UK.
The Samaritans said they fear greater sharing of the images may alert vulnerable people to it, when otherwise they might not have known.
Victoria Turner was distraught after her daughter Callie, seven, started behaving erratically and later admitted seeing a Momo video online
Sophie Giblin says her son Harry was left traumatised and fearing his family would be murdered after a 'Momo' doll popped up while he watched Peppa Pig on YouTube
Speaking today, Chris Skinner, senior online safety consultant at National Online Safety, said parents should be alert.
He said: 'Over the last couple of days we have heard first-hand accounts from our schools of children and young people who have been exposed to Momo.
'In some instances, the exposure has led to severe trauma and safeguarding issues being instigated within the school.
'Thankfully in most cases this is not the case, but widespread fear has affected many children and young people. Ignoring the issue will not address it. We need parents to be armed with the information they need to protect and safeguard their children.'
He added: 'In most cases the Momo affected videos have been removed, however, some do remain. Parents should continue to supervise children's online activities.
'When tasks as seemingly as innocuous as watching Peppa Pig on YouTube can go wrong, it is simply not advisable to allow young children unsupervised access to the internet.'
Last year, Le Monde in France linked the so-called Momo Challenge to the death of a 14-year-old boy while The Buenos Aires Times in Argentina reported the challenge had led to the suicide of a 12-year-old.
In the Commons yesterday, minister Andrea Leadsom said: 'In the case of Momo, organisations including the Samaritans, the NSPCC and the Safer Internet Centre have said there is no confirmed evidence the Momo phenomenon is posing a threat to British children.'
