Omegle.com shuts down after 14 years of connecting strangers on the Internet

[Invincible Sugar]

Summary

Omegle.com has shut down, citing the never ending battle against criminals and abusers, with no apparent intentions to come back. The site owner also explained some lore to the site, talking about their own life journey and why they made Omegle in the first place, and why they couldn't, in good conscience, allow the site to keep running.

 

Quotes

Quote

Omegle, a video chat service that connects users with strangers at random, is shutting down after 14 years following ample misuse of the platform.

 

“Operating Omegle is no longer sustainable, financially nor psychologically,” Brooks wrote.

 

My thoughts

This is so sad for me, but I get it. Most of my good, long term online friendships started on Omegle. But I get it, I have an underage daughter, and I wouldn't want her using the video side of Omegle... some truly disgusting people out there have ruined something amazing for everyone else.

 

Sources

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/video-chat-service-omegle-shuts-years-user-abuse-104759547

https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/9/23953620/omegle-anonymous-video-chat-shut-down-online-safety

https://www.omegle.com/

[filpo]

1 minute ago, Invincible Sugar said:

This is so sad for me, but I get it. Most of my good, long term online friendships started on Omegle. But I get it, I have an underage daughter, and I wouldn't want her using the video side of Omegle... some truly disgusting people out there have ruined something amazing for everyone else.

Sure it's sad, but there's a never ending list of pedos on that site and the only way you can really battle it is to shut it down

There were even tiktok channels dedicated to catching them (Childprotector is one of them)

[Kisai]

Just now, Invincible Sugar said:

 

 

My thoughts

This is so sad for me, but I get it. Most of my good, long term online friendships started on Omegle. But I get it, I have an underage daughter, and I wouldn't want her using the video side of Omegle... some truly disgusting people out there have ruined something amazing for everyone else.

 

 

Omegle was infamously known for this:

https://jezebel.com/virginia-catfish-cop-california-teen-family-murder-1849970506

 

But on top of that, omegle was basically known for creeps sending inappropriate photos/video to minors. 

 

To say shutting it down was a good thing, is an understatement. It get's lumped in with chan sites for "do not let your curiosity lead you there."

 

[jaslion]

My only personal memory is from a friend opening it on a school laptop 10 years ago when we were teens and seeing more dicks than in an entire lockeroom all within 5 minutes :D.

 

Glad its gone. Conceptually its nice but people will be people and make shit suck

[Theguywhobea]

Crazy to think the guy who made it is from the same town I went to high school in.

[Arika]

Paedophiles everywhere are in shambles.

[Invincible Sugar]

1 hour ago, filpo said:

Sure it's sad, but there's a never ending list of pedos on that site and the only way you can really battle it is to shut it down

There were even tiktok channels dedicated to catching them (Childprotector is one of them)

I would have been happy to see them shut down the video portion, I used the text mode/question mode and it was so much fun...

 

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

Omegle was infamously known for this:

https://jezebel.com/virginia-catfish-cop-california-teen-family-murder-1849970506

 

But on top of that, omegle was basically known for creeps sending inappropriate photos/video to minors. 

 

To say shutting it down was a good thing, is an understatement. It get's lumped in with chan sites for "do not let your curiosity lead you there."

It's a minority of users though, it sucks when something fun gets ruined by people... I would have loved to see them just disable the video mode, which did happen for periods of time before, but never permanently. The text mode was a lot less creepy in my experience. And question mode was really fun.

 

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

My only personal memory is from a friend opening it on a school laptop 10 years ago when we were teens and seeing more dicks than in an entire lockeroom all within 5 minutes :D.

 

Glad its gone. Conceptually its nice but people will be people and make shit suck

Yikes. Some people are so gross...

 

1 hour ago, Theguywhobea said:

Crazy to think the guy who made it is from the same town I went to high school in.

That's interesting. I didn't know the creator experienced SA, that would explain a lot...

 

1 hour ago, Arika said:

Paedophiles everywhere are in shambles.

I appreciate when people use the correct term. c:

[Techstorm970]

3 hours ago, Invincible Sugar said:

Summary

Omegle.com has shut down, citing the never ending battle against criminals and abusers, with no apparent intentions to come back. The site owner also explained some lore to the site, talking about their own life journey and why they made Omegle in the first place, and why they couldn't, in good conscience, allow the site to keep running.

 

Quotes

 

My thoughts

This is so sad for me, but I get it. Most of my good, long term online friendships started on Omegle. But I get it, I have an underage daughter, and I wouldn't want her using the video side of Omegle... some truly disgusting people out there have ruined something amazing for everyone else.

 

Sources

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/video-chat-service-omegle-shuts-years-user-abuse-104759547

https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/9/23953620/omegle-anonymous-video-chat-shut-down-online-safety

https://www.omegle.com/

This reminds me of the popular online Cards Against Humanity server Zyxxy (Xyzzy???  something like that...) where the site was shut down because of an almost-mass-shooter making credible threats on the platform.  While the person was caught before they could kill anyone BECAUSE of the platform, the ordeal scared the host into shutting the whole thing down.

 

Omegle was far bigger and their problems were far more rampant, but it's a similar story.  Sad but predictable.

[Needfuldoer]

Frankly, I'm amazed it lasted as long as it did. 

[Brooksie359]

4 hours ago, jaslion said:

My only personal memory is from a friend opening it on a school laptop 10 years ago when we were teens and seeing more dicks than in an entire lockeroom all within 5 minutes :D.

 

Glad its gone. Conceptually its nice but people will be people and make shit suck

Honestly this was my first thought. I mean when I went on it when I was in high-school that was basically all we saw so when people say the name of the website I always wondered how people used it when it was 98% people with their junk out. 

[cmndr]

21 hours ago, Kisai said:

To say shutting it down was a good thing, is an understatement. It get's lumped in with chan sites for "do not let your curiosity lead you there."

I chuckled too much at that. 

And yeah, the less time you spend at any of those places, the better. 

[Donut417]

22 hours ago, cmndr said:

I chuckled too much at that. 

And yeah, the less time you spend at any of those places, the better. 

Eh. Some good meme's came from 4chan. But yeah, theres messed up people on that site. I check it out periodically to gauge how fucked the world is. Its a lot easier to read 4chan than the shit on Twitter and Facebook now days.

[Monkey Dust]

Honestly, a little surprised to hear it hadn't gone years ago? How did it support itself? I can't imagine it was popular with advertisers. Though I guess Yahoo is hanging on in there despite the odds.

 

In theory, it was a nice idea, to bring random people together. In practice, a disturbingly large percentage of the population cannot be trusted with nice things...

[dimforest]

On 11/9/2023 at 6:46 PM, Needfuldoer said:

Frankly, I'm amazed it lasted as long as it did. 

Likewise. I would always see the funny videos on YT of people playing pranks, or people playing songs, etc... basically, the "good" side of Omegle. After some time, I figured I'd go check it out finally because the highlights on YT painted it in a pretty positive light. 

 

Didn't even take me more than a minute to see more dongs in rapid succession than I had seen in the Army barracks over the the years. It was wild. You click, and bam - dong. Click away, another dong. Click, dong. Click, dong. Then after a few meats, you'd get paired up with some kids and immediately the whole thing just felt gross and wrong.  

 

Never went back after that and just started thinking most of the Omegle YT highlight vids were fake or set up because in my extremely small sample size of an experience, it was all dongs and kids. In any other context, those two things "together" would raise a bajillion red flags (as it should) but for some reason Omegle just kept on trucking on, I guess? So yea, I'm also pretty amazed at how long it lasted.

[Poinkachu]

Oh my, TheDooo gonna be sad.

[NumLock21]

Just thinking, if Omegle requires users to submit an official picture ID say driver's license, would that prevent those creeps from doing those nasty stuffs?

[Kisai]

3 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

Just thinking, if Omegle requires users to submit an official picture ID say driver's license, would that prevent those creeps from doing those nasty stuffs?

That has never stopped anyone.

 

Look, literately OnlyFans, Fansly, CB, PH and various others require you to do this already to prevent underage people from performing (among other rules, like "no guests/friends, no animals, no babies, no blood, etc") Only the person identified in the ID is allowed to perform. Alone. Exceptions tend to be made when everyone has identified with the site. Users typically vanish and their accounts cease existing if they are reported for any violation. CB basically does what Omegle does except isn't pretending to be something it's not.

 

[Middcore]

The articles in the OP make it sound as if Omegle is shutting down of its own free will, so to speak. They mention, in passing, a recent settlement of a suit by an abuse victim. 

 

Actually, it seems the site was basically forced to shut down as part of the terms of that settlement, not because of any soul-searching by the creator.

 

https://www.wired.com/story/omegle-shutdown-lawsuit-child-sexual-abuse/ 

[2dfx]

20 minutes ago, Middcore said:

The articles in the OP make it sound as if Omegle is shutting down of its own free will, so to speak. They mention, in passing, a recent settlement of a suit by an abuse victim. 

 

Actually, it seems the site was basically forced to shut down as part of the terms of that settlement, not because of any soul-searching by the creator.

 

https://www.wired.com/story/omegle-shutdown-lawsuit-child-sexual-abuse/ 

They are shutting down as part of the settlement.  Omegle itself is too small, they don't have the capital to wage a long drawn out war where the only winners are the litigators.

 

The owners probably took whatever little cash they had left after the settlement and called it a day.

[Middcore]

39 minutes ago, 2dfx said:

They are shutting down as part of the settlement. 

Yes, that's what my post says. 

 

My point is that other articles on this, including the ones in the original post, make it sound like this is a decision that Omegle's founder took of his own volition, almost a noble choice to destroy his own creation before it could be used for more evil, when he actually was forced to do it. 

[NumLock21]

5 hours ago, Kisai said:

That has never stopped anyone.

 

Look, literately OnlyFans, Fansly, CB, PH and various others require you to do this already to prevent underage people from performing (among other rules, like "no guests/friends, no animals, no babies, no blood, etc") Only the person identified in the ID is allowed to perform. Alone. Exceptions tend to be made when everyone has identified with the site. Users typically vanish and their accounts cease existing if they are reported for any violation. CB basically does what Omegle does except isn't pretending to be something it's not.

 

Their way of asking for an ID is similar to asking for an ID to see if they're legal to drink alcohol, of course it ain't going to work. If everyone that registers, an account requires a photo ID for identification, then it may work to prevent bad things from happening.

[Monkey Dust]

On 11/14/2023 at 4:32 AM, NumLock21 said:

Their way of asking for an ID is similar to asking for an ID to see if they're legal to drink alcohol, of course it ain't going to work. If everyone that registers, an account requires a photo ID for identification, then it may work to prevent bad things from happening.

I wonder if these site check the IDs? One on hand checking these IDs with the different issuing bodies around the world would extremely difficult. On the other hand, legally have they sufficiently covered themselves in case an underage person signs up with a fake ID?

[26astr00]

The anonymous internet is dying. Only thing that is left is 4chan.

[SADS]

aahhhh, gotta love humans......

 

If only 95% of us weren't uneducated assholes eh?

[Donut417]

On 11/16/2023 at 12:13 PM, Monkey Dust said:

wonder if these site check the IDs?

How could they? Just in the US, ID's are issued at the state level. Thats 50 different issuing bodies. I doubt most have an ability to check the ID if your not in law enforcement. I highly doubt you will be able to figure that out with a digital copy alone.