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 heinous acts”, the founder says.
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.
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.
Earlier this year, BBC journalists revealed that Omegle has been named 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.