[Boudica]

What a fucking stupid scenario.

Although Omegle certainly did not do themselves any favours, I cannot see how an 11-year-old can safely be given unfettered access to the Internet.

I am wondering how some of these legal issues got as far as they did, specifically relating to minors. I'm pretty sure the site had age restrictions too.

It's a marvel it managed to stay online almost 15 years. It was universally accepted if you used Omegle you'd run into people whacking off (or worse). Give people a platform and anonymity, and it will be misused.

Truthfully that was part of the attraction of going on the site as a teenager. You felt like a rebel and it was "hilarious". Really it's just gross and sad but there you go.

The underlying problem is the intersection of children and the Internet. The two ways of dealing with it are trying to change what is on the Internet or changing where and how children can access it.

So true! There's also a lot of arguments about liability/responsibility. I.e. Is it the parents responsibility to stop kids accessing concerning content, or teachers to tell kids how to stay safe online, is it search engines to prevent concerning content reaching minors or the platforms themselves?

Realistically, if a kid wants to be reckless online, there's little a parent can do to stop them besides disconnecting the internet. In that sense, a young teen is going to find a way around restrictions to get to the content they want (yes I'm looking at you teenage boys). xD