CAVEAT: Just a warning – If you decide to explore the live streaming websites mentioned in this blog article, it’s important to be aware that you may encounter extremely offensive and sexually explicit behavior from anonymous individuals that you won’t be able to un-see or un-hear.
UPDATE: November 9th 2023 – OMEGLE has announced that they have shut down their social media platform
Have you heard of the live-streaming chat platforms Likee, Emerald Chat, Bigo, Monkey, OME TV, and Omegle? As a parent, caregiver, or educator it is important to be aware of these very concerning live-streaming virtual platforms that are popular with some youth. Recently, we assisted a parent who was surprised to discover that their 12-year-old daughter was using Omegle during a sleepover with friends. After doing her due diligence to learn more about Omegle, the parent was shocked when they took a closer look at what their daughter and friends were viewing. On the other hand, when we ask young people about these platforms (yes- from elementary school students as well), they often laugh and admit to both knowing and even participating in them in some manner.
Omegle, which was created in 2009, is the oldest and most popular vendor of the live virtual streaming platforms for youth. After losing popularity for a while, it regained traction with young people about three years ago due to its popularity on TikTok, where videos that are tagged with “Omegle” have received millions of views. However, since then, several other streaming platforms similar to Omegle, such as Likee, Emerald Chat, Bigo, and Monkey, have also become popular youth online streaming sites. These platforms allow users to chat with people from all over the world, even if they don’t know each other.
The concept of these live-streaming platforms is quite simple – users enter a chat room and get paired with a random stranger for a text or video/audio conversation. It’s like a game of roulette in a casino, but instead of a ball and numbers, you interact with random people online. In fact, there was once a popular live-streaming site called “Chatroulette”, which is still active today.
Once a connection is made on these platforms, users have the option to continue chatting or just click/swipe to move on to another random person. While most of these platforms require users to be over 18 years old, none have a reliable age verification process. As a result, young people may lie about their age to join and participate in these platforms.
We believe that the popularity of these streaming platforms can be attributed to several unique attributes, such as anonymity, curiosity, excitement, entertainment, connection with others, and the disinhibition effect that these sites exploit. Young people, in particular, are more likely to engage in certain less-than-desirable behaviors in front of their camera when they believe they are anonymous, compared to what they would do when interacting with an unfamiliar person face-to-face. When we ask young people why they visit these concerning live streaming sites, they often say that they do so because they’re bored and are looking for entertainment, laughs, and giggles. Another reason why these sites are popular with youth – they may come across a celebrity who you would never meet offline, like Ariana Grande or Justin Bieber, who do use Omegle to surprise their followers. However, although this is a reality, it is extremely rare that this would ever happen.
Sites like Omegle do not require users to register or provide any personal information. This anonymity feature makes it a popular choice for people who want to chat with strangers without revealing their identity. However, this just isn’t true. Not only can a user of these platforms be tracked, but any activity can also be covertly recorded and later weaponized and posted publicly – sextortion being one of these concerns (1). It is important that youth know that when on these platforms all their engagement is public, permanent, searchable, exploitable, copiable, shareable, and sometimes sold/posted online to places like porn sites.
Young people are becoming more aware of the potentially harmful use of covert recording of their actions on these platforms. We have heard from youth that when it comes to engaging in questionable behaviour on these platforms, it’s becoming common for them to resort to counter tactics such as wearing masks or repositioning their cameras to avoid revealing their faces to increase their anonymity for those “just in case” moments. However, it’s crucial to recognize that there are still methods available to uncover the identity and whereabouts of a young person who employs these countermeasures.
Although the false promise of anonymity on these streaming platforms may attract young users, it also creates an environment that fosters toxicity, inappropriate sexual behavior, and the targeted exploitation of young people. Unfortunately, these platforms can often be used as a tool for grooming, where predators meet and gain the trust of their targets on a popular platform for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Once trust is established, they may try to move the conversation to a more private and secure communication platform (known as “off platforming”), such as Google Hangouts, Skype, Instagram, or Snapchat, where conversations can become more private, encrypted, and interactions can be more easily recorded covertly. It is crucial for parents, caregivers, and educators to be aware of these risks and take appropriate steps to educate and protect young people from the potential harm that these platforms possess (2). It is also important to note that often these streaming sites will display ads for porn sites and live sexualized cam sites.
Today, with the availability of deep fake technology, there is an additional concern regarding the potential for sexual predation on these platforms. Predators may use artificial intelligence (AI) to alter their appearance and voice in order to deceive young people. For example, a young person may think they are chatting with a 16-year-old girl from California, but in reality, they could be communicating with a 55-year-old man from the Philippines, India, or the Ivory Coast of Africa who is using technology to hide their true identity. This highlights the importance of being cautious and vigilant when using live-streaming platforms. Sometimes people are not who they say they are, or appear to be, even when live streaming.
Although the false promise of anonymity on these streaming platforms may be attractive to young people, there is no doubt that it creates an environment that is ripe for toxicity, inappropriate sexual behavior, and the exploitation and predation of young people by others. These platforms are often used for sexually explicit conversations, the sharing of explicit material, and even other illegal acts. In our investigations of these platforms, we have typically encountered sexually inappropriate behavior within a minute of joining, often involving older men masturbating in front of their webcams.
Although it’s important for parents, caregivers, and educators to keep themselves informed about the current live-streaming platforms that are popular with youth today, it’s also true that the internet and social media landscape is constantly changing. What’s popular today may not be tomorrow. Rather than trying to stay on top of every new app and social network, parents, caregivers, and educators should prioritize teaching their children fundamental digital literacy principles that can be applied to any platform to help mitigate risks. As we always say, “principles stay the same over time, but diverse in their application.” Here are some essential principles to teach your children, especially when it comes to live-streaming platforms:
Persistence: what you post or say online will stick around forever even if you click the “delete” button. Once you hit the send button or start to live stream, what you have created can become public, permanent, searchable, exploitable, copiable, shareable, and maybe even sold to others.
Searchable: once you have written yourself into being online your digital footprint now becomes very searchable.
On-Line Disinhibition: can reduce empathy and civility. Doing/saying things online that you would never say/do face-to-face
Replicability: anything written or published can usually be copied and transferred (pictures and thoughts may be cool now, but what about in about 5yrs when you are applying for a job or university). Once posted you lose control.
Invisible Audience: the internet is an unmediated environment where you don’t know who might really be reading, watching, or recording what you are doing online.
The popularity of live-streaming chat platforms like Omegle, Likee, Emerald Chat, Bigo, and Monkey among young people can be attributed to anonymity, curiosity, entertainment, connection, and the disinhibition effect. However, the anonymity feature also creates an environment that fosters toxicity, inappropriate sexual behavior, and the targeted exploitation of young people. These platforms can be used as a tool for grooming, where predators meet and gain the trust of their targets. With the availability of deep fake technology, there is an additional concern regarding the potential for sexual predation on these platforms. It is crucial for parents, caregivers, and educators to be aware of these risks and take appropriate steps to protect young people from the potential harm that these platforms have.
Remember – it is essential to be cautious and vigilant while using live streaming platforms as sometimes people are not who they say they are or appear to be, even when live streaming. This is why we recommend that it should be a hard “NO” for younger youth when it comes to the specific live-streaming platforms mentioned in this blog article.
Digital Food For Thought
The White Hatter
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