Parents have often heard, and used the term “stranger danger”, but do they know how to protect their children from strangers online? Omegle is a website, app, and now facebook program that advertises the ability to talk to strangers. The website was created in 2009, however, over the past year Omegle has been rising in popularity in the US. Children and adults alike are home and on the internet now more than ever due to COVID-19. As an outreach specialist, my goal is to find ways to educate parents and help protect children. I came across a flyer for Omegle educating parents. The flyer suggested parents try Omegle before allowing their children to use the site. So, out of curiosity, and wanting to provide accurate recommendations to parents, I decided to try it out myself. 

 

 Omegle allows the user to chat by text or video with a randomly paired stranger. There are no accounts, profiles, or names, just “Stranger”. The website is suggested towards individuals 18 and older. However, it invites children 13 and up to use the platform with “parents permission”. Unfortunately, there are no profiles or safechecks to monitor users age. There are 2 buttons, “chat” and “video”on the startup screen. There is a disclaimer that the video is monitored with an option for an unmonitored video instead. There is also an option for “College Chat” which requires a college email address, and a special interests chat option. The interests chat option allows the user to enter in a number of interests and be paired up with others that share that interest. So, what happens once you pair with a stranger? 

 

I decided to run an experiment. 100 chats (messaging, no video), no specified interests, and see what kind of people I would come across. I had an inkling that I would come across some adult “R” rated content, but held a hope that it would be few and far between. Something that ideally, the children on the site could quickly pass by and ignore. However, the results of my experiment were quite disturbing. 

 

I kept a tally of each chat, placing it into the category of  either rated “R” or “PG”. The criteria for an “R” rating was that the chat became sexually explicit within a few messages. The “PG” category were chats that at least at surface level, seemed harmless enough. 

 

Secondly, I wanted to answer two other questions, “Why do people use Omegle?” and “Are young children being exploited or taken advantage of on this site?” 

 

The first question was answered by asking users that were genuinely interested in carrying on a conversation. The second was addressed by posing as a 13 year old girl when paired with males 18 or older.  

 

Out of 100 text chats, 82 of them were classified as rated “R”. Only 18 were classified on a surface level as “PG”. I clicked the “new chat” button 100 times, and 82 of those times exposed me to explicit sexual content. One of the first things that most chats started with was establishing male or female, and age. The users use “M” for male and “F” for female. Many chats did not even begin with a greeting, only an inquiry into the age and gender. I realized that this was because most users are looking for a partner to initiate sexual conversation with. Some were more coy, asking what my best feature was, then “shyly” stating that theirs was their genitalia. Others were bold, saying that they were “horny” within the first few messages.  If I was able to establish age and a general conversation before the suggestions, I posed as a 13 year old girl. Thankfully, there were some who immediately ended the conversation, or said “you are too young”. I came clean and thanked the ones who backed off. Dimly though, there were men who did not back off. Who continued to pressure the “13 year old girl” to reveal personal information and participate in sexual conversation. Most asked to be added on the app “SnapChat”, a photo and chat sending app or Facebook. Once the users realized they were not going to get what they hoped for, many ended the conversation. The ones that stayed long enough, I revealed that I was actually 23, and that what they are pursuing is very wrong and in most places illegal. This ended the chat. Unfortunately, the disturbing findings did not end there. Another large portion of the chats were actually not humans at all, but “bots”, programmed chat users that send out automated messages. These messages all included their age, gender, tagline, and a link. The tagline was always something enticing and sexual, inviting the user to click the link to see what they were describing, or to “exchange” with them. The link’s were often shortened so as to not reveal the hosting website. However, some showed a “Kik'' address which was cited by the NY times in 2017 as a platform frequented for child pronogroapy and exploitation and has been shown to be a dangerous site. (See the link below)

 

 Learn more about the Dangers of KIK from Alabama Prosecutor 

https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2016/09/killer_app_alabama_prosecutor.html  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It can be assumed that many of the links led to pornographic sites or websites like “Only Fans'' which has been rising in popularity throughout 2020. Only Fans is a site that allows users to “sell” video and photo content to other users and viewers. Given the prevalence of “catfishing” or pretending to be someone else on the internet, it is safe to say some of the links are traps leading to exploitation. In Omegle’s disclaimer and “terms of use” they specifically do not allow automated programs to start chats, sexual harassment, nudity, or any innapropriate behavior. 

 

It has been established that 82% of the users on this website are either bots, or strictly there for sex. What about the other 18%? 

 

On the rare occasion that I was paired with a stranger who was willing to converse non-sexually. I asked why they used the site. The answers surprised me. One person used it as a way to cope with symptoms of ADHD, it provided fast paced activity to help occupy their mind while completing other tasks. Another user said that it helped them manage their social anxiety. Others said they wanted to let others know they were not alone, or used it as a way to connect during a pandemic. Several users from other countries outside of the United States explained that they use it to practice their conversational english. These people that came to use the site for the intended purpose, shared in my  frustration with the bots and rampant sexting bids. 

 

As mentioned above, there is a spot to include interests to help with matching. I tried a small sample of these with the interests of “school” and “college”. The ratio of PG to R was better this way. The ones that matched with “school” tended to be younger though. There was even one young boy asking for help on math homework. The “college” matches tended to be the sexually oriented ones. 

 

Omegle shows the general number of users at any given time. In the times that I completed this experiment there were anywhere between 50-60 thousand or more online at that moment. 

This does include video, not just chat. 

 

So what about video? The site does have a disclaimer that the video is monitored, there is not to be anything sexual, yet they cannot efficiently monitor, and that people are bound to “misbehave”. There are many YouTubers and other celebrities that use Omegle video to create content for their channels. They may do something bizarre like have animals in the video, or simply surprise users that they get to chat with a celebrity. One 5th grader I spoke with said that she learned about Omegle from watching her favorite YouTubers. These YouTube videos at times will elude to the darker side of Omegle. They may show clips of them gasping or saying “I did not want to see that”, hinting that they saw some form of nudity. It is distressing to think about the rates of R classified to PG content on the video option of Omegle. This was not something that I felt comfortable subjecting myself to, even as an adult. 

 

As a grown, married, adult, many of these conversations were uncomfortable, and gross. I did not allow the conversations to move past the confirmation of sexual vs. innocent. However, children do not necessarily have the same ability to just end a conversation that is heading down a bad path and yes, children are using this site. In my experiment I came across several children who were under 15, and even more in the 16-17 range. In fact, I myself used this site once when I was around age 13. I distinctly remember the conversation pressured me to describe sexual things about myself. This is the first time I felt violated by an adult. The development period of  13-17 is one of bad choices, exploration, budding sexuality, raging hormones, and that is just to start. These pre-teens and teens may not have the sense or desire to end these chats from predators. They may feel excited that someone is taking an interest in them, or that someone wants to befriend them. This may lead to divulging information such as phone number, real name, or location. We have all heard the horror stories. Even if they do not share, they are still being exposed to predatory actions that violate their innocence. I asked one 16 year old  if she or her friends have ever used the site. She admitted her friends had. When asked about “strange” or “uncomfortable” content, she said that her friends had some bad experiences and stopped using the site. 

 

I looked to reachout to Omegle customer service, but hit a dead end. It seems as if the creators behind Omegle do not want to be bothered. Even the Facebook page for Omegle has only been updated a few times over the past few years and the messenger link starts a new Omegle chat. Omegle is aware of the dangerous aspects of their platform. The intro screen has the following message:

 

 “Omegle (oh·meg·ull) is a great way to meet new friends, even while practicing social distancing. When you use Omegle, we pick someone else at random and let you talk one-on-one. To help you stay safe, chats are anonymous unless you tell someone who you are (not suggested!), and you can stop a chat at any time. Predators have been known to use Omegle, so please be careful.” 

 

The creators know the dangers, but do parents even know their children are using it? Have parents even heard of it? There are no profiles, no email connection, one click is all it takes. I interviewed 10 different parents from different backgrounds, with children varying in ages. None of the parents had heard of Omegle. Once they asked their children, some of the children did know about it, and knew friends that had used it. Parents, I urge you. Take the time to talk to your children about internet safety. Monitor their use closely. 

 

For more information on how to talk to children about internet safety please visit: https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/net-safety.html 

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Omegle Statement and Disclaimer: 

 

“Omegle (oh·meg·ull) is a great way to meet new friends, even while practicing social distancing. When you use Omegle, we pick someone else at random and let you talk one-on-one. To help you stay safe, chats are anonymous unless you tell someone who you are (not suggested!), and you can stop a chat at any time. Predators have been known to use Omegle, so please be careful.

If you prefer, you can add your interests, and Omegle will look for someone who's into some of the same things as you instead of someone completely random.” 

And this is the parent terms and conditions: By using the Omegle Web site, and/or related products and/or services ("Omegle", provided by Omegle.com LLC), you agree to the following terms: Do not use Omegle if you are under 13. If you are under 18, use it only with a parent/guardian's permission. Do not transmit nudity, sexually harass anyone, publicize other peoples' private information, make statements that defame or libel anyone, violate intellectual property rights, use automated programs to start chats, or behave in any other inappropriate or illegal way on Omegle. Understand that human behavior is fundamentally uncontrollable, that the people you encounter on Omegle may not behave appropriately, and that they are solely responsible for their own behavior. Use Omegle at your own peril. Disconnect if anyone makes you feel uncomfortable. You may be denied access to Omegle for inappropriate behavior, or for any other reason. OMEGLE IS PROVIDED AS IS, AND TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IT IS PROVIDED WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, NOT EVEN A WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE PROVIDER OF OMEGLE, AND ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY ASSOCIATED WITH OMEGLE'S OPERATION, SHALL NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT OR INDIRECT DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OF OMEGLE, OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES RELATED TO OMEGLE OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER. By using Omegle, you accept the practices outlined in Omegle's PRIVACY POLICY and INFORMATION ABOUT THE USE OF COOKIES (updated 2014-06-03 – contains important information about video chat monitoring).

Parental control protections (such as computer hardware, software, or filtering services) are commercially available that may assist you in limiting access to material that is harmful to minors. If you are interested in learning more about these protections, information is available at http://kids.getnetwise.org/tools/ as well as a number of other Internet sites that provide information on this form of protection.

* Omegle video chat is moderated. However, moderation is not perfect. You may still encounter people who misbehave. They are solely responsible for their own behavior.