Many people have been feeling extremely lonely with the pandemic keeping us from going out and meeting new people. Enter Omegle. Some are using the app to meet international friend and some have other intentions. Young kids are taking to Omegle to do challenges or goof off with strangers and post about it on Tiktok. Even popular influencers, including Emma Chamberlain and James Charles, are using the platform to create content for their viewers. The growing popularity of the app has raised concerns as to whether the site is safe and appropriate for a young audience.
Background
Omegle was first created in 2009 to allow strangers to talk to each other anonymously. Before its popularity, it was only available to chat with strangers. The ability to match with strangers with common interests was added as the site grew.
There was a clear issue regarding inappropriate content which triggered the creation of a “monitored” video chat section. However, to complement this, an unmoderated section was also implemented. It is just as easy to access the unmoderated video chats as the moderated ones and this has become a big issue to many.
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Back in Style?
Tik Tok has been setting trends all year and Omegle has become one of them. Some of the trends include using witty pick-up lines, trying magic tricks or playing music. While it is fun to interact with all kinds of people from all over the world, it has also become a place for a wide range of hate. It is easy to spread hate when you’re able to hide behind a screen.
There have also been many cases of people being able to uncover general locations through IP addresses. It is encouraged to use a VPN when using the website to make it more difficult to locate the original IP address.
There are many benefits to being able to socialize with others online and Omegle is certainly a great source when it comes to this.
Check out our five best video chat picks here.
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