Laura Laplaud 11:13 a.m., April 27, 2022, modified at 11:13 a.m., April 27, 2022
The principle of the Omegle site resembles that of the Chatroulette platform, which was a dazzling success in the 2010s: meet and chat via webcam with strangers.
But the platform is also the benchmark for many "perverts", as revealed by the "Koolmag" survey.
The co-founder of this online media, Baptiste des Monstiers, was the guest of "Culture Médias" on Wednesday.
INTERVIEW
Do you remember the Chatroulette site?
This video messaging site was all the rage in the early 2010s. The concept: a connection via webcam with strangers around the world.
You could find yourself chatting with complete strangers in seconds and zapping from one caller to another with a single click.
But the site, which wanted to be good-natured, was also a benchmark for web perverts who sometimes spent their time showing off live.
>> Find Philippe Vandel and Culture-Médias every day from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Europe 1 as well as in replay and podcast here
Ten years later, a new site called Omegle, quite similar and strangely under the radar since its creation in 2009, is also making headlines.
The reason ?
An investigation by the online media
Koolmag
reveals that young minors, sometimes some still in primary school, find themselves faced with sexual perverts.
"Talk to strangers!"
Omegle is an American instant messaging website created with the slogan "Talk to strangers!"
(“talk to strangers!”).
It connects two users at random, anonymously and without prior registration.
Only one condition required: to be at least 13 years old.
In the end, a simple click is enough to certify it.
The site really broke through during the various confinements.
Omegle investigation: this #video chat site mixes #perverse and #minors
Full video ➡️ https://t.co/vmjZDjII4bpic.twitter.com/S5w0cnSYxU
— @KOOL mag (@Koolmag_off) April 21, 2022
It was during a discussion with a colleague that Baptiste des Monstiers, journalist and co-founder of the online media
Koolmag
, heard about this site which strangely resembles Chatroulette, as he explains to Philippe Vandel in
Media Culture
on Wednesday.
"I connected to it and I was more than surprised," he says.
A dangerous site for young people?
"At the beginning, I met everything I thought I would meet, that is to say young people, boys, girls, between nine and sixteen years old. Some who were playing, some who were killing time. went on a Wednesday afternoon and it was really the France of college students", he describes before adding, "rather quickly, between these youth profiles, profiles of a completely different type are inserted".
"Men who are framed without their face, who have put the webcam on their chest, on their lower stomach. And then, one thing leading to another, more and more people with somewhat strange attitudes, one hand under the table, the pants down", he explains.
A shocking picture
Explicit attitudes, daring, inappropriate gestures that children and teenagers can discover on this website.
“We saw people caressing each other, masturbating, even showing off,” exclaims Baptiste des Monstiers.
An image, moreover unveiled by
Koolmag
, made noise.
That of a man, disguised as a woman, wig on his head, dressed in women's underwear, and sitting in what appears to be a bathroom, his hand on his penis.
During his investigation, Baptiste des Monstiers and his colleagues meet a 13-year-old boy.
They initiate conversation.
"I try to find people my age," he says.
"What are you doing at 13 on a site like that? There are only crazy people, porn and guys who masturbate", replies the journalist.
"I skip automatically, I'm a little shocked but it's okay... I don't have any friends in fact," he says.
How do these teenagers know this site?
One question remains: how do these children and adolescents learn of the existence of this platform?
After a quick tour of YouTube, the journalist realizes that many YouTubers, like Just Riadh (1.36 million subscribers), offer their fans to talk to them on Omegle.
When Koolmag
's first report aired
, the YouTuber reacted to Baptiste des Monstiers' microphone.
"Once you know it's dangerous, you tell yourself it's not a good idea to do that again," he says.
"My goal today, with the audience I have, is to deliver the right messages, and to do prevention."
Following our #investigation on #Omegle.
We talk about it with the #Youtubeur Just Riadh.
(Part 1) pic.twitter.com/y0qSuIZFuy
— @KOOL mag (@Koolmag_off) April 26, 2022
>> READ ALSO
- Education: how to protect your child from the dangers of the internet?
Baptiste des Monstiers wishes to close this platform.
"We have the means when we are lucky enough to have relays of public opinion. Either we attack the host of the site, or we ask the access provider to block the site and Google to dereference it , it is possible but it depends on a court decision.
Since then, the Secretary of State in charge of children and the family, Adrien Taquet, seized the prosecutor of Justice.
An investigation is opened.