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What is Chatroulette? Since the triumph of the Internet, chat portals have enjoyed great popularity – including Chatroulette.
What is Chatroulette – how the one-on-one chat works
Chatroulette is a website where Internet users from all over the world meet to communicate with each other using a webcam, microphone and keyboard. A logarithm connects two randomly selected users in a “one-on-one” chat so that they can interact.
- A special feature of Chatroulette is that both Chatroulette users can disconnect from the other chat partner at any time with a click of the mouse and then be connected to another Chatroulette user. There is no option to return to a previous chat partner.
- Chatroulette was launched in 2009 by the Russian Andrei Ternowski and has enjoyed increasing popularity ever since. As the operation of the necessary servers is financed by advertising revenue, there are no costs for you to use Chatroulette.
- Users from all over the world can access Chatroulette, so you could be communicating with a chat partner from the USA one moment and with someone from the People’s Republic of China the next.
- In order to be able to take action against conspicuous users who violate the general terms of use, it has been necessary to register with Chatroulette since August 2012 in order to use the service.
Chatroulette under fire
As a result of media reports and Internet links, Chatroulette achieved a large increase in users within a very short time, so that the website reported 30 million users in February 2010. As a result, the name “Chatroulette” became the fastest growing search term on Google in 2010, ahead of “iPad”.
- Chatroulette is repeatedly criticized because many Internet users take advantage of its anonymity. Users repeatedly complain that they are confronted with political extremism or pornographic content on Chatroulette.
- A March 2010 study by Internet analytics company RJMetrics also found that around 13 percent of Chatroulette users were unclothed when they started chatting, undressed during the chat or performed sexual acts.
- Various youth protection organizations therefore warn against the use of Chatroulette by young people. Chatroulette is in no way suitable for young people and it is up to parents to take measures to prevent children from using Chatroulette.