Earlier this week, we reported on the terrifying "Momo Challenge" urging young children to harm themselves and threatening them to keep silent.
Parents across the globe are worried about this sick phenomenon, and celebrity parents share their concern.
Kim Kardashian is taking up the cause of pressuring social media giants to protect children from this horror. And it's working.
First, a quick recap.
As in the alarming post that Kim Kardashian shared to her Instagram Stories, the Momo Challenge is targeted at children.
A creepy and upsetting photo (originally from a sculpture by an artist who never intended for it to be used this way) pops up.
It can appear in children's videos. One example cited is what appears to be an otherwise normal Peppa Pig episode.
Even semi-attentive parents who check and see what their child is watching but leave the room for a moment may miss what happens.
The haunting, ghoulish figure tells very young children to harm or even kill themselves.
It also threatens to murder the child's parents if the child tells.
The post that Kim shared, originally sourced on Facebook, carries a dire warning.
"It doesn’t come on instantly so it’s almost as if it waits for you to leave the room then comes on in mid show," the post reads.
"It’s been seen on Peppa Pig, LOL DOLL, those surprise eggs, and a few others," the text details.
Not all of these child-targeted videos are the same.
"There’s also videos of cartoons doing sexual things, violent things," the post cautions.
"And they may look innocent enough at first glance," the text reads. "But trust they aren’t! PLEASE PAY ATTENTION!!"
Kim used her considerable platform to implore YouTube to take notice.
Facebook had already clarified that they were taking action to remove anything about the Momo Challenge from WhatsApp.
On Wednesday, YouTube was telling various outlets that they had not seen any actual evidence of the Momo videos on its platform.
(We'll explain about that in a moment)
However, clearly Kim's vocal plea caught the video streaming giant's attention.
"Kim Kardashian, thank you," YouTube wrote on Instagram. "We take these reports really seriously. We're on it."
Anything of this nature is a direct violation of YouTube's terms of service and they promise that anything that they find will be removed.
So, why did YouTube initially claim that they hadn't seen anything of it?
Well, it appears that the Momo Challenge story has been blown out of proportion somewhat by understandably concerned parents.
That doesn't mean that it's not real. There are definitely children in America and abroad who have seen and been terrified by this.
But no causal link has been found between this vicious prank and the deaths of any children.
Like so many viral stories, this is rooted in truth, but not nearly as widespread as people believe.
Just as with the Tide Pod challenge or older stories of teens drinking hand sanitizer, the hoax far outweighs the reality.
Experts say that the Momo Challenge is akin to modern day ghost stories -- in fact, it has similarities to "Bloody Mary."
It spread so quickly because it's grounded in truth and because it evokes so many very real fears and protective instincts.
Even Kim Kardashian, a celebrity mother, is not immune to this fear.
That said, she did not waste her efforts by pushing YouTube to take action against any videos found to conceal harmful material targeted at children.
We know that the videos are real and out there, even if they're not widespread. They should be deleted.
In the meantime, this is a great opportunity for parents to pay more attention to what their very young children are consuming on streaming apps.