The Demise of Omegle
Taking A Look Back at the History of A Controversial Platform
By: Expose The Predators
2009 was a year that marked a major turn of events in global history: President Obama being sworn into office, the first establishment of Bitcoin and Kanye interrupting Taylor Swift’s VMA Speech. Yet, one moment also took place in 2009 that would reap repercussions 14 years later: the launch of the infamous Omegle platform. Launched in March 2009 by the then 18 year old founder, Leif K-Brooks, the platform was averaging 150,000 visits a day (an impressive feat considering that YouTube had only launched 4 years earlier in 2005). A year later in March 2010, the platform introduced its video chatting format which only started to contribute more to the controversy of the platform.
In 2014, a 11 year old girl matched with a man in his late 30’s named Ryan Scott Fordyce. Fordyce coerced the child into contacting him on other platforms, sending him lewd photos of herself and then threatened to release the photos unless she did what he asked. He abused her for 3 years more and even attempted to get her to recruit other girls.
Fordyce was arrested in 2018 after police found thousands of illegal photos and videos on his home devices and was sentenced to prison in 2021. Fordyce’s exploitation victim, going by A.M., sued Omegle in 2021 for $22 million citing PTSD, severe emotional distress, suicidal ideation and a litany of other similar symptoms. The two sides settled in 2023, with Omegle shutting down its platform for good only 2 days later. Upon visiting the website nowadays, Omegle displays a tombstone with a message from Leif, citing that he shut down Omegle to prevent further incidents like this from occuring again, a thank you to A.M. and even stated “Omegle’s moderation even had a positive impact beyond the site. Omegle worked with law enforcement agencies, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, to help put evildoers in prison where they belong. There are “people” rotting behind bars right now thanks in part to evidence that Omegle proactively collected against them, and tipped the authorities off to” (Omegle, 2023).
Another case of an alarming instance of a predator abusing the platform made headlines in July 2023. A 52 year old man, William Scott Elam, was arrested for coercing an estimated 20 minors on Omegle to sending him lewd material. In another disturbing instance, it was reported that “It is alleged that Elam also instructed one victim to self-harm via cutting on live video in addition to coercing the victim to perform sex acts live on camera (Middletown man arrested for coercing, exploiting children online, 2023). Elam is currently on trial and if convicted, can face 25 years to life.
If cyber exploitation wasn’t concerning enough, there are instances of predators meeting with minors in person and kidnapping them as well. In 2014, a 23 year old man in Minnesota named Casey Lee Chin communicated with two 13 year old girls through Omegle and met with them. According to the Star Tribune, “Chinn was charged Thursday with six felonies — two counts of third degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of kidnapping and two counts of solicitation of a child to engage in sexual conduct” (Charges: 13-year-old girls were found 'huddled,' 'crying' at man's home, 2014). A simple search about Omegle related exploitations and kidnappings yields a number of similar heartbreaking articles.
Outside of giving predators access to minors, Omegle was known as a platform where trolls solicited to harass individuals with attempts of bullying and racism. The appeal of the platform to these individuals was the anonymity in the messaging portion as well as in the unmoderated video chat feature. While parents may breathe a sigh of relief that Omegle’s shuttering reduced the likelihood of their children encountering predators and bullies online, they still need to remain wary of other platforms that the predators may end up moving onto. In fact, an alarming statistic was reported: “In 2022, there were 608,601 reports of child exploitation on Omegle to the nonprofit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline. Of all the sites the center tracked, only Facebook, Google, Instagram, and WhatsApp ranked higher” (Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit From a Sexual Abuse Survivor, 2023).
It's important to note that by having clear communication with your children and explaining to them the dangers of communicating with strangers online. If you notice a change in your childs behavior and you suspect that they may be a victim of an online predator, it is extremely crucial that you communicate with your child and contact law enforcement to prevent the situation from becoming drastic.
Please contact Expose The Predators if you have any questions, concerns or would like assistance in navigating in contacting the proper authorities.
References:
1. Omegle.com
United States Attorney’s Office
Southern District of Ohio (2023, October 5) Middletown man arrested for coercing, exploiting children online Department of Justice https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdoh/p r/middletown-man-arrested-coercin g-exploiting-children-online
Hoover, A. (2023, November 9)
Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit From a Sexual Abuse Survivor, 2023 Wired https://www.wired.com/story/omegle -shutdown-lawsuit-child-sexual-abu se/
Zamora, K. (2014, October 2)
Charges: 13-year-old girls were found 'huddled,' 'crying' at man's home https://www.startribune.com/charge s-13-year-old-girls-were-found-hudd led-crying-at-man-s-home/2778952 11/
