Case Background

The Momo challenge, or “Momo Game”, became an international online phenomenon in the summer of 2018 when it became a very prevalent meme.

“Momo” is based off a Japanese artwork called “Mother Bird” by Japanese artist Keisuke Aisawa. Children would hide behind this guise and send this creepy image to other strangers on Whatsapp. Recipients of this image would be required to perform various challenges to avoid becoming “cursed”. In the process, one would have to undergo challenges of increasing intensity and danger, including self harm and even suicide.

This challenge is an example of how fake news led to dangerous trends and memes that were widely practiced around the world.

What happened?

This challenge first appeared in the summer of 2018 through Whatsapp. It was under heavy scrutiny due to its psychologically and physically harmful nature. The image can be scary to many, and could cause psychological damage to children. Many children were also tricked into participating in the challenges, which included revealing personal information, causing self harm, and even committing suicide. Participants were subject to physical and mental harm due to participating in the challenges, seeing the picture, as well as living in fear of being cursed by “Momo”. In the process, there have been many reports of self harm and even suicides among children around the world.

Why is this an important issue?

The Momo challenge represents the ubiquitous nature of fake news. Fake news is becoming increasingly prevalent in the digital age that we live in today. Due to the heavy reliance on the internet for news and information, many people tend to believe whatever they see, and are unable to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources of information.

The Momo challenge also represents how easily individuals could abuse social media platforms to endanger and threaten the lives and well-being of other users. Due to the prevalence of social media, people are able to use social media as a medium to dupe others into doing things. Similar to advertising, the Momo challenge basically revolved around convincing participants to do things.

This is very important as the Momo challenge is likely not the last dangerous trend/meme to gain such momentum. There would be more in the future, and children and internet users around the world would be at risk unless something is done. Although efforts have been made to minimize fake news on social media platforms, not much else can be done.

Why does it matter?

This challenge demonstrates the fragility of children as well as many users around the world. The fact that such a trend would be able to catch on and become universally recognized is a clear representation that many people are susceptible to fake news and information. This can be especially problematic as similar trends could arise in the future, and individuals would be caught up again.

Users should be taught to distinguish between what’s real and what’s fake. When presented with the Momo challenge, many children were reported to have participated due to their inability to identify that the challenge was merely a hoax. In the process, many children received calls and messages from strangers hiding behind the Momo guise gave in when they were pressured to disclose personal information relating to addresses, bank accounts, and more. Although there aren’t many reports of suicides or related deaths, there are many instances of reported self harm as well as psychological harm due to the threats associated with the challenge.

Efforts in abolishing fake news?

So far, there have been efforts to restrict and control the flow of fake news. However, there are none that actually tries to abolish or prohibit fake news.

For the recent 2019 election campaign, the Australian government assembled a task force specifically to tackle and remove fake news that might circulate and cause harm to the candidates as well as the election process. Moreover, they have also collaborated with Twitter and Facebook to remove content believe to be fake and/or harmful.

Aside from this event, no laws or regulations have been implemented to better handle fake news as a whole. Even when considering the effectiveness of the Australia government’s task force during the election process, the task force is of limited effectiveness as there were many loopholes and exploits that hackers were able to use to bypass whatever rules or policies setup by the task force and social media platforms to distribute and circulate fake news.

Implications for advertising and consumers alike

The Momo challenge represents the ubiquitous nature of fake news. Fake news is becoming increasingly prevalent in the digital age that we live in today. Due to the heavy reliance on the internet for news and information, many people are unable to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources of information.

This is particularly important for the advertising field, as many companies tend to over exaggerate or rely on technicalities to get their messages across. For instance, stores would engage in aggressive advertising campaigns for shopping holidays. In such cases, not many people realize that the sales are created solely for the benefit of the stores. Furthermore, the vast majority of the “big sale” items are door-busters, and the remainder of the store would generally not enjoy such savings. Yet many stores would not inform consumers of this and still keep their signs up to maximize foot traffic. This is borderline unethical since such promotions are often very limited, and are likely gone in a very short time. But the stores would not change their signs to reflect this, because they know the signs would still increase foot traffic.

Just like fake news, this kind of advertising exploits the needs and emotions of the people and lure them into thinking/doing something. The absence of strict laws and regulations is allowing stores to continue engaging in such advertising techniques. In fact, fake news bear strong resemblance to misleading advertisements that are still very common today. Although there are regulations by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, they are not specific and explicit enough to cover all possibilities. Companies still tend to engage in advertisements that are enticing in nature, but only by reading the fine print would the consumer understand the implications of said promotion.

Due to the absence of strict and explicit laws and regulations surrounding fake news, especially those threatening and harmful in nature, vulnerable individuals would continue to be at risk. Similarly, the absence of regulations that prohibit advertisements from being technical and exploitative in nature is allowing advertisements to remain only truthful on the surface.

Conclusion

The Momo challenge and its worldwide prevalence is a clear representation of how fake news can set the ground for dangerous trends and memes. Similar to false advertising, the momo challenge provokes victims by exploiting their fear and needs. However, the absence of explicit laws and regulations on fake news strengthens the importance of teaching children to distinguish and identify fake news. Children should also be taught how to not be enticed by advertisements before reading the fine print, as the nature and objective of fake news and advertisements are arguably aligned. Their primary purposes are to convince and persuade, and advertisements could at times rely on technicalities and ambiguity. Furthermore, there should be more strict and explicit guidelines surrounding advertisements and fake news, as the absence of such guidelines is allowing false and misleading advertisements and fake news to continue running rampant.