Unmasking the Momo Challenge Mystery

Imagine opening a group chat and seeing a message from a user with bulging eyes and a birdlike grin, daring you to do something dangerous — or else. That’s the image that exploded across the internet in 2018, turning “Momo” into one of the most infamous online scares of the last decade — but here’s the weird twist: there’s no proof this “challenge” ever actually existed.

The story starts with a sculpture. In 2016, Japanese artist Keisuke Aiso created a piece called “Mother Bird” for an art exhibit in Ginza, Tokyo. Made of rubber and plant oils, the statue looked like a woman with distorted features — huge, staring eyes, stringy black hair, and a vulture-like smile. Images of the sculpture were posted online soon after the exhibit, but it wasn’t until July 2018 that “Momo” became a household name.

The first big burst of attention came when YouTuber ReignBot posted about the so-called “Momo Challenge.” Online rumors claimed that kids and teens were being contacted through WhatsApp by someone using the Momo image, encouraging them to carry out a series of escalating tasks. According to these stories, if you didn’t obey, you’d receive threats or horrifying images. The rumors also said the final task was suicide.

Media outlets worldwide jumped on the story. In July and August 2018, police departments in countries from Argentina to Germany to Canada warned parents about the supposed dangers of the “Momo Challenge.” The story became a top news item in France, where the Ministry of the Interior even had a team monitoring the situation daily. In Spain, the Policía Nacional issued warnings to teens to avoid new challenges appearing on WhatsApp.

In North America, local police in Longueuil, Sherbrooke, and Gatineau in Quebec reported that people in their jurisdictions had received messages about Momo. Yet these police forces said they had not received any complaints of actual harm — just rumors and screenshots. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced they were monitoring the spread of the phenomenon.

In India, the Central Bureau of Investigation publicly declared on August 29, 2018, that media claims tying two teen suicides to the Momo Challenge were "far-fetched and devoid of any evidence." The CBI’s spokesperson stated that, “so far, the game has not claimed any victim, nor has anyone approached us saying they have played even the first level of it.” The agency believed most “Momo” invitations in India were pranks generated locally, with the main purpose of spreading panic rather than actual harm.

In Mexico, cybercrime officials told parents that Momo challenge messages appeared to have spread from a Facebook group frequented by young people. They warned that the real dangers were extortion, hacking, and self-harm, but said that no confirmed cases of injury had been reported.

Meanwhile, the “Momo” image started popping up in unexpected places. Minecraft players created unofficial game mods and skins featuring the character. One police officer in Ohio was shocked to see Momo in his son’s copy of the game, fearing the mod could entice children to participate in dangerous online challenges. After media reports highlighted the connection, Microsoft announced it was working to restrict access to the mod.

By September 2018, most of the WhatsApp numbers associated with “Momo” had gone out of service. Law enforcement agencies in multiple countries, including the United States, stated publicly that while they’d received complaints about the challenge, none could confirm anyone had been hurt as a direct result.

Despite this, the panic kept spreading. In February 2019, the Police Service of Northern Ireland posted warnings on Facebook, and Kim Kardashian posted to her Instagram story, urging YouTube to remove alleged “Momo” videos found in Peppa Pig and Fortnite clips. At that point, the Momo Challenge had become a worldwide moral panic, with parents, teachers, and internet safety experts all weighing in.

But here’s where the story gets stranger. Several major organizations, including the NSPCC, the Samaritans, and the UK Safer Internet Centre, all declared the Momo Challenge a hoax. The founder of Snopes, David Mikkelson, said he doubted anyone had actually come to harm, describing the incident as “primarily a product of bullies and pranksters latching onto a handy mechanism to goad and torment vulnerable youngsters rather than an intrinsic part of a particular social media challenge.” Fact-checker Benjamin Radford called it a classic case of moral panic—anxiety fueled by parents’ fears about what their kids are doing online.

Web security experts and folklorists pointed out that there was never any proof that the so-called challenge was being systematically spread or that anyone had completed the rumored tasks. In fact, most of the publicized “victim” cases, like the 12-year-old girl in Ingeniero Maschwitz, Argentina, were later publicly disconnected from the challenge by local authorities. In India, police could not confirm that the deaths of a grade 10 girl and an engineering student had anything to do with Momo. In Belgium, authorities investigating the death of a 13-year-old in Bertrix said they found no evidence of a connection to the challenge.

Authorities in Brazil and Germany reported that they had not confirmed a single case linked to the Momo Challenge. Instead, Brazil’s SaferNet organization warned that this type of viral hoax was just one of many extortion schemes that used fear to pressure people into giving up money or personal information.

As the panic grew, so did the viral spread of the sculpture’s image. Early reporting incorrectly attributed the artwork to Japanese artist Midori Hayashi. Eventually, internet sleuths identified Keisuke Aiso and Link Factory, a Japanese special effects company, as the real creators. In March 2019, Aiso confirmed that he had thrown away the “Mother Bird” sculpture in 2018 after the materials had rotted. He managed to save one of the sculpture’s eyes, which he planned to reuse in another project.

The internet panic even spilled over into pop culture. On March 9, 2019, Saturday Night Live aired a parody featuring Kate McKinnon as “Bok Bok,” a chicken-suited fast food mascot who looked suspiciously like Momo. In 2022, the horror film “Grimcutty” referenced the viral urban legend. By July 2019, Orion Pictures was developing a movie based on the Momo Challenge, with producers Roy Lee and Taka Ichise attached to the project.

Meanwhile, social media companies scrambled to respond. WhatsApp encouraged users to block and report any phone numbers associated with the challenge. YouTube stated that it had not received any links to videos actually showing or promoting the Momo Challenge, but it demonetized all videos mentioning Momo—including news coverage—because they violated advertiser-friendly content guidelines. The platform also flagged Momo videos with advisories about inappropriate or offensive content.

So here’s the riddle: if law enforcement in more than ten countries, including the United States, Germany, Mexico, and India, found no evidence of the challenge causing harm, why did the panic spiral out of control? Experts say the answer lies in the way rumors, disturbing images, and parental anxiety can combine on social media to create a self-perpetuating cycle of fear.

The last twist? Keisuke Aiso, whose sculpture accidentally became the face of a global moral panic, said in 2019 that he felt “responsible” for the fake challenge. He threw the original Momo statue in the trash after it began to rot—leaving behind only one glass eye as a reminder of the internet’s ability to turn art into legend, and myths into worldwide scares.