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Popular free online randomized chat website Omegle has shut down after 14 years of service. The website, albeit controversial, was quite popular among millions of people and even was the source of a plethora of entertaining YouTube videos. The website's founder conceded that it was no longer "sustainable", neither financially nor psychologically.
Leif K-Brooks founded Omegle when he was only 18 years old. Making the Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2018, Brooks' website brought in an impressive 73 million users per month. Leif posted a lengthy statement on the official Omegle page detailing the rise and fall of the website. Once the statement went viral on social. media, the hashtag RIP Omegle began trending as people shared their thoughts about the same.
Leif K-Brooks and the rise and fall of Omegle
In the spring of 2009, Leif K-Brooks, an 18-year-old Brattleboro, Vermont resident living with his parents launched an online chat website, Omegle. The website would soon go on to become a cornerstone in internet and pop culture history. As Brooks himself explained, the site which added a video chat feature in 2010 exploded in popularity almost immediately after its release.
The website randomly matched users together in a chatroom and allowed them to connect over the internet. It became a place where strangers met, had fun, conversed with each other, or even hurled insults at each other. The website was also the first meeting place for soulmates who would later go on to be married. It was the reason why many YouTubers including iShowspeed rose to fame.
The site's immense popularity landed Brooks on the Forbes 30 under 30 List in 2018. In 2016, Brooks along with Ben Parr and Matt Schlicht launched Octane AI, an E-commerce messenger and SMS platform now used by many popular E-commerce sites.
However, Brooks' Omegle faced controversy after controversy.
Some of the allegations against the website were the prominence of predators and pedophiles on the website along with allegations of racism, and discrimination. However, that wasn't all as there were other allegations of red pilling and becoming an alt-right playground (like Paul Miller a.k.a GypsyCrusader), among many others.
A Canadian teacher was arrested in 2020 for broadcasting child p*rnography on Omegle. In the following year, a 23-year-old Australian man was arrested for using the website to search for underage kids to s*xually exploit. While the website is shutting down, it is still battling a $22 million lawsuit from 2019 filed by an underage girl who was exploited for s*x slavery by a Canadian man on the site.
Once considered the pinnacle of what the internet means, towards the end of its life, the restricted section of the website was filled with a plethora of n*ked men.
Leif K-Brooks' final battle cry for Omegle and Internet freedom
When Omegle users opened the website on November 8, 2023, they were surprised to not be greeted by the iconic Winnie the Pooh diss against the Chinese President. Instead, they saw a picture of a grave with "Omegle 2009 - 2023" written on it. After 14 successful and controversial years, it was finally over, the website was now a relic from a bygone internet era.
Underneath the picture, Leif K-Brooks wrote a lengthy and heartfelt statement detailing the rise and fall of the popular chat site. He said that the internet had fascinated him as a young person and offered him a "larger, more diverse, and more vibrant" world than he would have had to experience otherwise. He noted that it allowed him to contribute to the world and grow into a well-rounded person.
He detailed his experiences as a survivor of childhood r*pe and how the internet allowed him to communicate with people without risking his physical body. It gave him a "refuge from that fear."
"I saw the miles of copper wires and fiber-optic cables between me and other people as a kind of shield – one that empowered me to be less isolated than my trauma and fear would have otherwise allowed," he wrote.
The website was his attempt to build on everything he loved about the internet, what he referred to as a manifestation of the “global village”. He described Omegle as the idea of meeting new people, distilled down to its "platonic ideal."
He recalled all the good things that the website had done. He said that it was a place where people explored different cultures, got unbiased third-party advice, and alleviated loneliness. However, he also conceded that there were "lowlights" and acknowledged that some people used it to commit "unspeakably heinous crimes."
"Virtually every tool can be used for good or for evil, and that is especially true of communication tools, due to their innate flexibility," he added.
He revealed that the website did a lot to combat these "lowlights". Apart from the anonymity provided by the website it also offered an immense amount of moderation. This included "state-of-the-art AI" working in tandem with a team of moderators. He said that the website "punched above its weight" when it came to content moderation.
He also emphasized the website's cooperation with law enforcement agencies and the NCMEC to help put "evil-doers" behind bars. He stated that the website's tip-offs based on data collected had resulted in many people being put in jail.
Brooks wrote that the battle against crime can never be won and claimed that people had become more "ornery" and "faster to attack".
"Omegle is the direct target of these attacks, but their ultimate victim is you: all of you out there who have used, or would have used, Omegle to improve your lives, and the lives of others," the founder claimed.
He added:
"When they say Omegle shouldn’t exist, they are really saying that you shouldn’t be allowed to use it; that you shouldn’t be allowed to meet random new people online."
He pondered how fear can be a valuable tool but at the same time, it can also be a "mental cage" cage that prevents people from experiencing the things that "make life worth living." He analogized the shutting down of the website due to crime to shutting down Central Park due to crime and destroying the universe due to evil.
"The stress and expense of this fight – coupled with the existing stress and expense of operating Omegle, and fighting its misuse – are simply too much," Brooks confirmed.
He added:
"Operating Omegle is no longer sustainable, financially nor psychologically. Frankly, I don’t want to have a heart attack in my 30s."
"The fight for Omegle has been lost, but the war against the Internet rages on", he announced.
Brooks urged people to rise against the forces trying to make the Internet a place of TV-like passive consumption, instead of the place of active participation and human consumption, it began as.
Leif K-Brooks concluded his statement by thanking everyone who used and contributed to the website in positive ways. He apologized to his millions of users for not being able to keep fighting for them.
