Online chat website Omegle has been shut down after repeated claims it facilitated child abuse.
The website, which randomly connected people with strangers and became particularly popular with children during the coronavirus lockdowns, received around 73 million monthly visitors this year.
Omegle was touted by its creator as a “great way to meet new friends,” but has long been criticized for failing to protect minors by connecting them with pedophiles.
According to the BBC, the website has been mentioned in more than 50 cases against pedophiles in countries including the UK, US and Australia.
The company is currently facing a groundbreaking lawsuit from a US woman who was abused by a Canadian man for three years.
“Talk to Strangers”: Omegle randomly matched users into one-on-one chat sessions where they would chat anonymously under the names “You” and “Stranger.”
What is Omegle?
The site was launched in the US in 2009 by 18-year-old protégé Leif K-brooks and attracted millions of users around the world every week.
The free site allows users to text or video chat with random strangers from around the world.
Many have criticized the platform for its potential to put young people at risk if they could be exposed to nudity or abuse.
Leif K-Brooks, who founded Omegle in 2009 at the age of 18, justified the decision to close the site in a blog post that included an image of the site’s logo on a gravestone.
The “elusive” 32-year-old, who refuses all interviews and has been widely criticized for failing to protect children, cited the “stress” of running the site and lawsuits against it.
“As much as I wish the circumstances were different, the stress and cost of this fight – coupled with the existing stress and cost of operating Omegle and combating its abuse – is simply too high,” Mr Brooks said.
“The operation of Omegle is no longer financially or psychologically sustainable.
“To be honest, I don’t want to have a heart attack when I’m 30.”
In a world where lengthy online setup procedures are commonplace, using Omegle was relatively easy.
All people had to do was go to omegle.com on their phone or computer and click “Start Chat” or “Video” to be paired with a stranger.
Omegle announced the decision in a blog post that included an image of its logo on a tombstone (pictured).
Leif K-Brooks, who founded Omegle in 2009 when he was 18, explained the decision in a blog post that included an image of his logo on a tombstone.
Each user chatted anonymously using the names “you” and “stranger,” although nothing prevented them from exchanging names and other personal information.
Users of the site were warned that they should be at least 18 years old, but this did not stop children under that age from visiting the site.
People were told that they “bear sole responsibility for their behavior when using Omegle,” while another warning even said: “Predators have been known to use Omegle, so please be careful.”
Omegle is currently battling a huge lawsuit from American “Alice,” who dated Canadian pedophile Ryan Fordyce about a decade ago when she was 11 years old.
During their first video chat, Fordyce persuaded her to reveal personal message details, which allowed him to control Alice and force her to send intimate images over a period of three years.
For a documentary broadcast in February, the woman told the BBC that there is “a community of predators and pedophiles who make a living on Omegle.”
“They use it to repeatedly and consistently target children,” she said.
The documentary Omegle: Matched with My Abuser also features BBC cyber correspondent Joe Tidy tracking down the Omegle founder and denying him an interview outside his home in Florida.
Tiday then knocks on Mr Brooks’ front door and shouts: “We want to know why you aren’t protecting children.”
In his new blog post, Mr. Brooks does not mention such allegations against him, but laments the loss of the entire site due to the actions of perpetrators.
“If something as simple as meeting random new people is forbidden, then what’s next?” he said.
“An analogy to the physical world might be closing Central Park because there is crime there – or, perhaps more provocatively, destroying the universe because it contains evil.”
Mr. Brooks also highlighted that there was “a lot of moderation going on behind the scenes” at Omegle, including AI and a team of human moderators.
“Omegle has excelled at content moderation and I am proud of what we have achieved,” he said.
“Right now, ‘people’ are rotting behind bars, thanks in part to the evidence Omegle proactively collected against them and tipped off to authorities.”
Leif K Brooks: The American programmer who founded Omegle at the age of 18
Leif K Brooks founded Omegle in 2009 when he was just 18 years old and a senior in high school. He remains the owner.
In a blog post announcing the site’s launch, he said it was “wonderful and a little confusing to see Omegle gain so much popularity.”
Mr Brooks, already an accomplished computer programmer, had been writing programs for “many years” before starting Omegle, but said the chat service was the first to “go viral”, with 1,800 users.
Originally, it was a text-only chat where users randomly came together to communicate as “strangers.” In 2010 it expanded to include a video chat service.
Mr. Brooks attended the University of Vermont but dropped out. Unlike other tech prodigies, he keeps a low profile and refuses interviews.
In 2016, Brooks co-founded Octane AI, which “powers millions of automated conversations for major brands and celebrities.” The company named Brooks to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Tech list in 2018.
According to the BBC, Omegle had 73 million monthly visitors as of February 2023, but is accused of failing to protect children.
In November 2023, Mr. Brooks announced the immediate closure of Omegle, citing the “stress and costs” associated with operating the platform.