Canadian K-Brooks founded the website as an 18-year-old with the idea of meeting people on the internet “the way you would meet someone on the street”. But the website was also used by people who committed “indescribably gruesome acts”, the founder writes on the platform.
Partly for this reason, according to him, it is “financially and psychologically” not possible to keep the website running. “I don’t want to have a heart attack in my thirties,” he writes. “The battle for Omegle is lost, but the war against the internet rages on.”
Possible child abuse
During the corona crisis, the chat site gained popularity worldwide, especially among children and young adults. In the Netherlands, among others, concerns about the website increased and people warned against chatting with strangers.
A few months ago, journalists from the BBC announced that Omegle was mentioned in dozens of cases of possible child abuse, including in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. The website had approximately 73 million visitors worldwide every month.
