Omegle connected strangers to one another and had a long-standing problem of pairing minors with sexual predators. A legal settlement took it down.

Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit From a Sexual Abuse Survivor::Omegle connected strangers to one another and had a long-standing problem of pairing minors with sexual predators. A legal settlement took it down.

  • testfactor@lemmy.worldEnglish
    671·
    1 year ago

    Like, I don’t really care one way or another, but are we not on Omegle’s side on this one?

    Like, yes, Omegle was a cess pit. We all knew that. It was basically 4chan with video chat. But, like, this case seems like a parenting failure more than anything, right?

    I don’t know that I see why this is Omegle’s fault really, and it’s kinda dumb they had to shut down over it.

    • Steve@communick.newsEnglish
      485·
      1 year ago

      I was thinking along the similar lines. Omegle should have shut down because it’s entire concept is obviously functionally useless to any purpose that isn’t abuse.

      Omegle’s chatting service was shut down Wednesday, just a week after it settled a court case with a plaintiff identified as A.M. Her lawsuit, filed in 2021, alleged that she met a man in his thirties on Omegle who forced her to take naked photos and videos over a three-year period. She was just 11 when it began in 2014.

      I’m almost certain the word Forced is the wrong word there. Convinced, coerced, conned, tricked, scammed? Blackmailed maybe? Hell, even hoodwinked or bamboozled. But by definition nobody on a video chat can force anyone to do anything. They aren’t physically in the room to do any forcing.

      Even the title! Omegle wasn’t Forced to shut down. They negotiated and agreed to it as part of the settlement.

      This kind of intensifying language is manipulative, and it always irks me.

      EDIT: What she experienced was terrible enough. It might even be worse than if she was forced. Because if forced, then she clearly would have no choice in it. But because she couldn’t be forced, I’d imagine she also feels some kind of misplaced guilt about it. And while I can’t relate to most of what she went through, I know how horrible it is, trying not to blame yourself for things that weren’t your fault, but feel like it.