Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit From a Sexual Abuse Survivor
Omegle connected strangers to one another and had a long-standing problem of pairing minors with sexual predators. A legal settlement took it down.
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I have a fundamental question about this case: was he there physically with her? Coercion is one thing, but the word "force" implies he was somehow in control. I am in no way defending him, but it reeks terribly of the "look what you made me do" vibe and I feel somewhat uneasy about how this played out.
Omegle was a piece of the internet I never partook in. It never appealed to me to talk with random internet people. Perhaps I don't understand why he had power over her.
Edit: thanks, I everyone. I get it from a subjective position.
Her lawsuit, filed in 2021, alleged that she met a man in his thirties on Omegle who forced her to take naked photos and videos over a three-year period. She was just 11 when it began in 2014.
Not all methods of force are physical. This was an adult talking to an 11 year old. 11 year olds have in many cases not had enough life experience to understand that there are adults that will manipulate them in this way. It’s possible he got her to do things and then blackmailed her for more. Regardless of how he did it, he was an adult and she was an 11 year old child. Not acceptable no matter the circumstance.
Perhaps I don't understand why he had power over her.
One can have leverage over another person by threatening to harm oneself or someone else.
There's been many cases in omegle of people threatening "show me your boobs or I'll kill this pet". If the victim complies, the agressor may continue through blackmailing.
I can only assume but the first few pictures where probably coerced and after wards she was threatened to send more or he would release them. That definitely counts as forced. She was only 11 and this thing went on for 3 years. It's definitely not just "look what you made me do".
You can force someone to do something without being physically present.
He somehow got her to get started and then threatened her, saying that she was now complicit in making illegal porn and would get in trouble.
Shitty parents don’t look at internet history. Even shittier parents blame others for not educating themselves on protecting their kids.
Ok but that’s still not the kids fault. It’s the adult who forced a child to send him nude photos.
I don't think anyone is blaming the child. All of the adults involved fucked up.
I don’t disagree. But the parents should be devastated thinking “we could have done more” because it’s a few YouTube videos away from a locked down device.
Look at internet history?! That’s the first thing kids learn to clear, right before private mode and free (trial) VPN services. The methods get swapped like candy in school.
May I gently ask if you have kids? My experience is that curious t(w)eenagers always find a way and I say this as someone who runs their own pihole, OPNsense-filtering router. The filter mobile phone networks enable is poor and by the time kids hit 13, they know every trick in the book.
And that’s before you realise screen time restrictions doesn’t actually work fully on iOS.
I’m a network administrator. It’s easy. Do you homework. Watch a YouTube video or something ffs.
It’s not easy. Do you have teenage kids?
I’ve redirected DNS ports. I’m subscribed to an up to date set of filters. I’ve got screen time set up on phones and the kids have non-admin accounts on laptops. But it doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t matter because your kids will attend school. They will meet kids with unrestricted internet access. They will be sent shit in the 100 WhatsApp groups they are in, 40 of which have formed just this week (the old 40 groups?! Awmahgawd you’re not part of the old 40 groups are you? That was so last week!!). Snapchat, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram is FULL of shit you don’t want your kids to see. And you can refuse these for your kids - we were the last hold out amongst their class to give in to some of them, (although dammit I’m dying on the hill of Instagram resistance - they can install that shit when they’re 18; it’s like liquid self-loathing, injected straight into their veins).
Are you refusing your kids to attend that sleep over? I mean, Linda is a nice girl, but Rebecca’s parents couldn’t give a shit and she’ll be there too. Linda’s parents care, but what will Rebecca bring? Oh great, theyve been on Omegle and now I have to speak to my daughter about that hairy, sweaty naked man masturbating in front of them for 2 seconds before Linda and my daughter disconnected. I mean Rebecca thought it was hilarious, of course.
You cannot lock the world down enough that your kids are shielded. All you can do is try to raise them well, to recognise danger and to stand up for themselves.
But that means they’ll do dumb stuff and have some shocks along the way … and the same is true for the parents.
I’m all for Omegle’s right to exist. But for heaven sake there were 10 things they could have done to make it safer for kids.
I have clients who try to break free, yes.
No one can control devices that aren’t under their control, so in that case there’s nothing a parent can do and I wouldn’t place blame on them. It’s the other parents fault.
Who are you arguing is to blame now? What other parents?
Did you read the comment I was commenting on? Probably not. Probably just here to complain because you disagree with me. Blocked. 😘
