Entanglements of Sexuality & Anonimity of Children in the Digital SPACE: Children's Encounters with Strangers on Omegle
The qualitative research was conducted with a framework characterized by ‘Online Participant Observation’ where the researcher engaged in videochatting with strangers on Omegle in the pretext of a regular user. The sample of the study was found on the platform by providing ‘Interests’ (an option like that of keywords, where Omegle tries to match users with similar interests). The research was carried out between 2021 & 2022 with the target population through online engagements where the platform matched significant number of users that were under the age of 18, with 14 children under 13 years. The keywords that targeted children matched adult men exposing nudity, masturbating etc.
The observations on Omegle revealed distressing exposure to:
Children being subject into soliciting sexual fervours
Explicit content and nudity
Children’s self-exploration of sexual desires and nudity
Findings underscore children’s vulnerability in using digital platforms for self-exploration of sexuality and the self can be a major threat to child protection. This scenario can be further worse in low-income and developing countries where limited digital literacy and inadequate parental oversight exacerbates online risks of grooming and trafficking. Omegle was permanently shut down in 2023 due to accusations of facilitating online child abuse, but the anonymity and real-time experiences of the digital world continues to be a hotbed for children. This study contributes to re-thinking of child’s perception of sexuality, online risks to childhood and the need for parental involvement.