Omegle, the popular albeit extremely controversial online chat service, is shutting down after 14 years.
Heading to Omegle.com now, users are greeted with a lengthy statement announcing the closure with no access to the chat or video features that it was known for. In the statement, founder Leif K-Brooks offered an explanation for closing the site: it was "no longer sustainable, financially nor psychologically," to continue operating Omegle, he said.
Omegle launched in 2009 and, similar to Chatroulette, the website allowed users to converse with strangers without registering for an account. The big difference between the two was that Omegle would randomly pair you with another stranger based on shared interests or preferences you added prior to matching.
While Omegle had some benefits, allowing people to connect with others from different cultures or even find love, it was the subject of controversy and serious legal and ethical concerns. Most notably, it became a breeding ground for sexual predators who used the platform to communicate with minors.
In 2021, a lawsuit was filed against Omegle, accusing the website of pairing an 11-year-old girl with a sexual predator. As journalist Jason Koebler points out, Omegle's shutdown was part of a settlement in this sexual abuse lawsuit.
Omegle shutdown was part of a settlement in a child sex abuse lawsuithttps://t.co/y5SEC89ndNhttps://t.co/ei2ObhqvV1
— Jason Koebler (@jason_koebler) November 9, 2023
"There can be no honest accounting of Omegle without acknowledging that some people misused it, including to commit unspeakably heinous crimes," K-Brooks wrote. "The battle for Omegle has been lost, but the war against the Internet rages on. Virtually every online communication service has been subject to the same kinds of attack as Omegle; and while some of them are much larger companies with much greater resources, they all have their breaking point somewhere."
In recent years, lawmakers across the globe have attempted or passed strict online safety legislation to prevent child exploitation. An online safety bill passed in the U.K. just last month.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
