Omegle is a popular website that allows people to video chat with strangers online for free. The description of the website itself sounds dangerous, but millions of teenagers still use it. It gained popularity through viral TikTok videos; from confronting people with different political views to unexpectedly meeting famous TikTokers, the website has a lot of appealing qualities. 

“In theory [Omegle] sounds fun,” junior Bridget Abbott said. “I’ve only ever used it at parties or with groups of friends and remember it seeming fun to engage with other teenagers and meet new people.”

“I saw only a few disturbing things [on Omegle] but usually it’s just random people being bored,” junior Diana Stinkova said. 

However, Omegle also has a dark side that has just recently come to light. Though it was created in 2009, the lockdown and pandemic have pushed it into fame in the past 4 months. The site gives users two options: moderated or unmoderated. No one can say what goes on in the unmoderated chats. Also, as soon as a person logs onto the website, Omegle has their IP address and computer ID tag.  

“It definitely is dangerous and new sources have come out saying some people can track your location,” Abbott said. “It’s inevitable to come across some disturbing things on the site, which is why I’ve never done it on my own or using my own devices. I definitely think there should be extreme restrictions on the website, as it’s honestly no place for some of the people who use it.”

“One experience I had [on Omegle] was a literally nude person and I was only eleven so that did scare me for some time,” Stinkova said. “Sometimes people pull pranks for fun or for a youtube video, and kids might misunderstand that.” 

Omegle is known to have predators and the website even issues a warning regarding predators. However, the warning has not always been effective and several arrests have been made in connection with Omegle.  

“I heard a few stories, especially severe ones in articles online, where kids were being sexually abused through the website, but that issue is present on every social media platform,” Stinkova said. 

Overall, Omegle is fun in theory, but the danger of the unknown is what makes the website extremely dangerous. Everyone should either avoid the website entirely or use extreme caution and follow the site’s guidelines and regulations.