Popular live video chat site Omegle is shutting down after 14 years due to allegations of user abuse.
The site’s homepage now displays an image of the Omegle logo on a tombstone and the dates 2009–2023, as well as a statement from founder Leif K-Brooks and quotes from authors K.S. Lewis and Douglas Adams.
The closure comes just days after Ofcom published its first guidance for technology platforms under the UK’s Online Safety Act, and amid an ongoing case against the site accusing it of linking a minor with a pedophile.
What is Omegle?
Omegle was founded in March 2009 by Mr K-Brooks, then 18, as an online chat service that randomly matched users and allowed them to send messages one-on-one without the need for registration. In 2010, a video chat feature was introduced.
Less than a month after its launch, Omegle was generating more than 150,000 page views per day and attracted nearly 50 million visitors last month, according to analytics firm ZekerWeb.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the site’s popularity has increased dramatically, especially among children and young people. The site was originally limited to 13-year-olds with permission from a parent or guardian, but in 2022 the minimum age was raised to 18.
Mr. K-Brooks wrote in his blog announcing Omegle’s closure: “I really didn’t know what to expect when I launched Omegle. Would anyone be interested in a website that an 18-year-old boy created in his bedroom at his parents’ home in Vermont with no marketing budget? But it became popular almost immediately after its launch and naturally grew to millions of daily users.
“I think it has something to do with the fact that meeting new people is a basic human need, and Omegle is one of the best ways to satisfy that need.”
Why does Omegle stop?
Omegle has generated a lot of controversy, especially related to inappropriate and illegal content, including pornography, and access to the site by minors.
The BBC found that Omegle was mentioned in more than 50 cases against pedophiles in the UK, US and Australia, among others.
The most high-profile of these cases was brought in November 2021 by an American woman who accused the site of connecting her with a pedophile ten years earlier, when she was still a minor.
The $22 million case details how the then 11-year-old plaintiff met a Canadian pedophile on Omegle, who blackmailed her into digital sexual slavery.
Omegle’s lawyers stated in court that the site was not to blame.
In 2020, a Canadian teacher pleaded guilty to a number of charges after broadcasting child exploitation material on Omegle, and in 2021, an Australian man was arrested after allegedly using Omegle to promote his child sex ad searches.
In his closing remarks, Mr. K-Brooks said, “Almost any tool can be used for good or harm, and this is especially true of communications because of their innate flexibility.” Birthday”, you But you can also use it to report a bomb threat. There can be no fair review of Omegle without acknowledging that some people have abused it, including committing unspeakably heinous crimes.
He added: “I have always welcomed constructive feedback, and over the years Omegle has made a number of improvements based on this feedback.” The only way to satisfy these people is to stop offering services.
“The battle for Omegle is lost, but the war on the Internet continues. Almost every online communications service is subject to the same types of attacks as Omegle, and while some are much larger companies with much greater resources, they all have a vulnerable point somewhere.
Source: I News
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