Omegle is a dangerous website and app that anyone of any age can go on to “make friends” with total strangers. I have witnessed the website myself while a friend from school was using the app. I did not know what this app was, so I decided to watch. First, the person you are randomly paired up with types either an “M” (for male) or “F” (for female). Then they type their age and maybe where they live or where their from. If they find out they are the same gender, someone will usually leave because the boys want to talk to girls and girls want to talk to boys. Almost everyone that my friend talked to was inappropriate and disgusting. Someone even sent my friend their phone number so they can send naked photos of them selves. Just out of interest, I kept watching just to see if it was just that one person that would talk like that. But I was wrong. Almost everyone talked about some sort of sexual activity. I was worried about her safety at this point because people were beginning to ask her to meet. And to be honest, it sounded like something my friend would be tempted to do.

On Omegle, there is no option to block people, mute video calls, or report people who are inappropriate. Omegle is also totally uncensored. Leif K - Brooks the creator of Omegle, says, “I created Omegle as a sort of melting pot; a place where people can interact safely with those outside of their normal social groups.” (carnaghan.com) So your telling me that video calling and chatting with a total stranger is safe? Wrong! BBC investigation found that sexually explicit videos and livestreams feature kids as young as 7 and 8 years old. When you get into this website, a notification pops up that reads, “Because this section is not moderated, you are more likely to encounter sexual behavior. As with the rest of Omegle, users in this section are soley responsible for their own behavior.” So it sounds like Omegle is aware that there are predators out there and that they are completely aware of the dangers of using their platform. Yet, they do nothing about it. And its a little weird that Leif K-Brooks has not talked publicly about Omegle in a couple years. You might hear your parents say not to talk to strangers, but Omegle encourages you to do just that!

Parents, it is your job to protect us from dangerous platforms like this. Lets send a message to the people who run Omegle that their platform is a dangerous for children and it needs to be taken down.

How To Prevent Your Child From Going On Unsafe Apps/Websites

1.Talk to your child.
Tell them about the dangers of having the app and online safety.

2.Try the app for yourself.
If your child wants an app but looks suspicious, check it out yourself first.

3.Parental Controls/ Monitoring
Parental controls is a setting that restricts your child from going on certain websites, apps and more.