Time for the annual summer slump. Old phenomena and fakes are taken up and mixed together in a new way. This time the theme is “Blue Whale Challenge”, but now in the form of a dog.
Like our cooperation partner SaferInternet, the “Goofy” and the “Blue Whale Challenge” are intended to scare children.
Fear serves as a demonstration of power
Stirring up fear and thus demonstrating power has brought many a person a lot of fame or perhaps even wealth. That seems to be the plan for summer 2020 - this time instead of the blue whale or the scary character Momo with a dog face that is reminiscent of the Disney character Goofy.
Let's not join in as parents and adult caregivers! The point is not to warn about the Blue Whale Challenge, but rather to demystify and support children and young people in dealing with their fears.
Fake warning: Whatever these trends are called – Theresa Figaldo, Momo, Killer Clown or Blue Whale: They are always fake news that you can safely ignore!
Old wine in new bottles
Two phenomena that have been doing the rounds for years are now being remixed: The Blue Whale Challenge , which has been appearing again and again in various forms since 2016, and a horrible Goofy cosplay from 2017 are now being put together in a new way.
The photo of the Goofy cosplay (under variations of the name Jonathan Galindo) is used to write to unknown people on various social networks and to contact them. “Do you want to play with me?” and similar questions address the possible boredom of children and young people at the beginning of the summer holidays.
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That alone is no reason to panic! If you get involved with such accounts, nothing will happen at first. It is important that children are familiar with such phenomena and know how to deal with frightening content. If it becomes too much for you, you can simply report or block the profile on the social network (you can find instructions here ) without having to fear any serious consequences!
Excited warnings promote fear
On social networks (in this case especially TikTok ), many people publish posts and videos that supposedly warn about the Blue Whale Challenge. Some of these warnings are so drastic that they are capable of causing fear. They are certainly well-intentioned by some, but their effect usually has the opposite effect: they stir up fear.
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Tips for parents and other adults
- Take children's fears seriously. This is the only way the children can turn to you in such cases and get the necessary support from you.
- Clarify what could be behind it. Make it clear to your children that this is nothing more than a scary chain letter that is not true. Explain that fear is the very goal of such accounts and messages.
- Support your children. You are smarter and can laugh about such things, which also relaxes your children.
Young people can also feel addressed by such phenomena and challenges - especially if they are also in a mentally unstable situation and therefore react more strongly to such content.
Update from July 15, 2020 / Statement from TikTok
“The safety and well-being of our users is very important to us. As our Community Guidelines clear , we do not tolerate content that reinforces, promotes, or glorifies dangerous challenges. We remove such content if it is reported to us by users. Our team of moderators will also immediately remove inappropriate content and block accounts that violate our Terms of Service. Therefore, our team of moderators proactively monitors content surrounding “Jonathan Galindo” and takes necessary actions to ensure that TikTok remains a safe environment. Although only a small amount of content on the topic has been uploaded to our platform, as a precautionary measure we have disabled the search term and are removing any users claiming to be Jonathan Galindo.”
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Source: SaferInternet
Article image: Shutterstock / spiderman777 / Photos593
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )