And in every chat box, a line appears at the top urging visitors to “say STAND WITH HONG KONG AGAINST THE CCP!” Omegle’s home page leads with a “public service announcement” comparing President Xi Jinping of China to Winnie the Pooh. The site has a Web 2.0 aesthetic and includes several unsubtle political messages. There is also, predictably, an “adult” section. edu email address, which the site uses for verification, to find other students. Visitors can submit keywords to filter for people with shared interests. (“did i miss something why is everyone on omegle?” one person recently tweeted.) The site is similar to the once wildly popular Chatroulette, which is also experiencing a renaissance of sorts, in that it is free, requires no registration and promises a surprising social experience. Omegle, a website that pairs random visitors through video and text chat, has spiked in popularity over the last four months. Now, months later and with no sign of the virus’ end in sight, it seems we’ve reached the taking-to-strangers online stage of boredom and isolation. There were raves, meetings, meditations and movie nights, all of which took place on the internet.
Then everyone became a gamer, inviting visitors to their virtual islands and sending friends digital gifts. First there was the Zoom boom, followed quickly by Zoom fatigue.
