MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is working with Facebook to take out the “Momo Challenge,” a messaging app that has been blamed for the death of at least one child in the country.
ICT Assistant Secretary for cybersecurity and enabling technologies Allan Cabanlong said he had already contacted Facebook Philippines to have the messaging app taken down from the social media network.
“We’re closely collaborating with Facebook, because Facebook was the platform used to distribute the app, through WhatsApp,” Cabanlong said.
“They told us to send the URL (Uniform Service Locator) and any link to it so they can take it down,” he said.
Cabanlong said he was directly working with Facebook Philippines country manager John Rubio.
Unknown individuals using Momo, a doll figure with bulging eyes and a gaping mouth, encourage children to add a contact on Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp.
Momo then hounds the user with violent images and dares.
An 11-year-old boy this week succumbed to drug overdose after allegedly joining the online challenge.
The Momo Challenge first hit the news in July 2018 when it was noticed by a known YouTube user and eventually, a 12-year-old Argentine girl was reported dead after having allegedly been persuaded to do harm to herself and take her own life by a female figure through mobile messaging application WhatsApp.
Cabanlong said Facebook was proactive in working to stop the circulation of the Momo Challenge as it has a community standard that prohibits physical harm in promoting or encouraging behavior that could lead to self-injury or death.
He said Facebook has assured him that they will continue to remove any such material as long as they are aware of it.
Cabanlong said parents should also make an effort to check on their children’s social media use and prohibit them from participating in such challenges.
“On the part of parents, they have to guard their child, and on the part of media, please help us in spreading awareness on this,” Cabanlong said.
“We’re also monitoring the surface web, the deep web and dark web for possible tips or information on the source of this,” he said.
Cabanlong pointed out the DICT has a digital parenting program, where they work with children’s welfare organizations on content in the internet and cyber social networking sites perceived to be harmful to children.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) also advised parents to be vigilant against the Momo Challenge and other harmful apps.
NBI anti-cybercrime division chief Vic Lorenzo said the best way to cope with this is for them to “supervise their children and be on a lookout for applications that they are using.”
“We have to realize that the millennials are susceptible to this kind of platforms and they should know that virtual reality is as real as physical reality,” Lorenzo said.
PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde appealed to parents to be extra vigilant and monitor what their children are watching or playing on the internet.
Albayalde also urged teachers to guide their students who might be enticed to play the deadly game.
He directed the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) to conduct an investigation and identify the people responsible for the online game.
Cabanlong, on the other hand, said the new application was derived from an older online game called “Blue Whale Challenge” played in several countries since 2016.
The game consists of a series of tasks sent by an administrator to players over a 50-day period, which leads to inflicting self-harm and ultimately suicide.
Lorenzo said a research team was assigned to study the application to understand how it works and how it affects children.
Asked who could be behind the application, Lorenzo said governments around the world have been trying to unmask the creator.
He said the app creator is possibly suffering from delusion “as he wants to satisfy his god-like feeling that he has power over life and death.”
ACG director Chief Supt. Marni Marcos said they are still determining where the game originated.
“While we have yet to determine where the Momo Challenge originated and who are the individuals perpetuating it, we encourage not only the public, but also other law enforcement authorities, to spread awareness to prevent this purported suicide game from affecting and causing harm to our children,” he said.
Marcos admitted the app is similar to a malware that is difficult to trace.
“It will suddenly pop up. When the child views it, it will entice the victim to play the game,” he said.
As to the parents of the 11-year-old boy who reportedly committed suicide, Lorenzo said the parents are welcome to tap their expertise but “we have to examine the gadgets and devices of the child to determine the threads, the communication and other circumstances before we could come up with a conclusion.”
“Was it really the apps that triggered his suicide or are there other underlying circumstances that led to his death?” Lorenzo asked. – With Rey Galupo, Emmanuel Tupas