Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The owner of the online video chat service Omegle said on Thursday he is shutting it down over tighter online restrictions and how some users have used the website to commit crimes.
Lief K. Brooks posted a lengthy statement on Omegle's website, admitting the platform was "no longer sustainable, financially nor psychologically." Omegle's anonymous video chat function allowed users to be paired with complete strangers.
That led to widespread misuse with Omegle gaining a reputation as a haven for child sexual abusers. The website faced a lawsuit accusing it of connecting an 11-year-old girl with a sexual predator.
"Virtually every tool can be used for good or for evil, and that is especially true of communication tools, due to their innate flexibility," Brooks said in a statement. "The telephone can be used to wish your grandmother 'happy birthday,' but it can also be used to call in a bomb threat.
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"There can be no honest accounting of Omegle without acknowledging that some people misused it, including to commit unspeakably heinous crimes."
The decision also comes on the heels of Britain's Ofcom issuing the first guidance for online platforms on how to comply with the new Online Safety Act, specifically taking aim at adults sexually preying on children online.
Brooks said while safety improvements had been installed, they have not been enough and Omegle continues to be a "direct target of these attacks."
"When they say Omegle shouldn't exist, they are really saying that you shouldn't be allowed to use it; that you shouldn't be allowed to meet random new people online.
"That idea is anathema to the ideals I cherish -- specifically, to the bedrock principle of a free society that, when restrictions are imposed to prevent crime, the burden of those restrictions must not be targeted at innocent victims or potential victims of crime."
