Video chat service Omegle shuts down following years of user abuse claims

NEW YORK (AP) — Omegle Shuts Down

Omegle, a video chat service that connects users with strangers at random, is shutting down after 14 years following ample misuse of the platform — particularly the sexual abuse of minors.

In a lengthy statement announcing the site's closure, founder Leif K-Brooks reflected on how Omegle was meant to connect people worldwide and “build on the things I loved about the Internet." But, he added that a dark side of the platform emerged.

“Virtually every tool can be used for good or for evil,” Brooks wrote. “There can be no honest accounting of Omegle without acknowledging that some people misused it, including to commit unspeakably heinous crimes.”