Omegle is going dark, with its founder Leif K-Brooks admitting it was used to “commit unspeakably heinous crimes.”

Brooks founded Omegle in 2009, setting it up as a service that connected two people at random for text and video chats. The site was the genesis for lots of memes and lots of YouTube videos (there are thousands upon thousands of “I matched with strangers on Omegle and X happened” uploads), but it was also rife with child sexual abuse. Earlier this year, BBC News reported that the site has been mentioned in more than 50 legal cases from countries including the U.S., U.K., and Australia in just the last two years.

Recently, Omegle settled a $22 million lawsuit from a woman who said the site matched her with a child predator when she was 11 years old. That man convinced her to send him photos and videos of herself, and is now...