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Video chat website Omegle, shuts down after 14 years

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10 months ago

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Popular social media network, Omegle, was shut down on Thursday after years of connecting strangers on the Internet.

Launched in 2009, the video chat site which enabled users to meet with new people from all across the world ceased operations 14 years after its inception.

The Chief Executive Officer, Leif K-Brooks, made the announcement on Thursday stating that the “battle” to keep the service afloat “has been lost.”

In the statement which featured the image of a gravestone with “Omegle” printed on it, K-Brooks emphasised that the service had several highlights throughout the years, most especially forging positive connections all across the world.

However, he also mentioned that some people used the site to “commit unspeakably heinous crimes”.

The statement read in part, “Over the years, people have used Omegle to explore foreign cultures; to get advice about their lives from impartial third parties; and to help alleviate feelings of loneliness and isolation. I’ve even heard stories of soulmates meeting on Omegle, and getting married. Those are only some of the highlights.

“Unfortunately, there are also lowlights. Virtually every tool can be used for good or for evil, and that is especially true of communication tools, due to their innate flexibility. The telephone can be used to wish your grandmother ‘happy birthday’, but it can also be used to call in a bomb threat. There can be no honest accounting of Omegle without acknowledging that some people misused it, including to commit unspeakably heinous crimes.

“Omegle’s moderation even had a positive impact beyond the site. Omegle worked with law enforcement agencies, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, to help put evildoers in prison where they belong. There are ‘people’ rotting behind bars right now thanks in part to evidence that Omegle proactively collected against them, and tipped the authorities off to.”

Despite the efforts invested in ensuring the service keeps functioning, K-Brooks admitted that operating the service was no longer “sustainable, financially nor psychologically”.

“Unfortunately, what is right doesn’t always prevail. As much as I wish circumstances were different, the stress and expense of this fight – coupled with the existing stress and expense of operating Omegle, and fighting its misuse – are simply too much. Operating Omegle is no longer sustainable, financially nor psychologically. Frankly, I don’t want to have a heart attack in my 30s.

“The battle for Omegle has been lost, but the war against the Internet rages on. Virtually every online communication service has been subject to the same kinds of attack as Omegle; and while some of them are much larger companies with much greater resources, they all have their breaking point somewhere,” he wrote.

While Omegle has existed since 2009, the service experienced a surge in users during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has remained popular since then with several recording of users’ video chats going viral on other social media platforms.

However, with the increased popularity also came scrutiny from critics with many claiming that the service become a haven for sexual predators.

In July 2022, Omegle was dragged to court by a user who claimed that the company paired her a pedophile when she was 11 years old. The plaintiff claimed the predator went on to sexually exploit her, demanding for nude pictures and issuing threats against her for a period of three years.

The court ruled in favour of plaintiff, stating that Omegle cannot raise a defence based on Section 230 of the United States’ Communications Decency Act. The law was enacted to protect companies from being held responsible for third-party content created on their platforms.

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Inflation drop to 32.15% in August 2024, says NBS

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7 hours ago

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September 16, 2024 1:23 pm

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Nigeria’s headline inflation rate dropped to 32.15 per cent for the month of August 2024, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

This represents a 1.25% percentage point decrease from the 33.4 per cent recorded in July 2024 and the second consecutive monthly slowdown in inflation after easing in the previous month.

The NBS, in its Consumer Price Index report posted on its website on Monday, signals a slower pace in the increase of the average price level compared to the previous month.

The report read, “In August 2024, the headline inflation rate further eased to 32.15 per cent relative to the July 2024 headline inflation rate of 33.40 per cent.”

On a year-on-year basis, the August 2024 inflation rate was 6.35 percentage points higher than the 25.80 per cent rate recorded in August 2023, indicating a significant increase over the past year.

On a month-on-month basis, the inflation rate in August 2024 stood at 2.22 per cent, slightly lower than July’s rate of 2.28 per cent, signalling a slower pace in the increase of the average price level compared to the previous month.

It added that Food inflation was 37.52 per cent in August 2024, while Month-on-Month headline inflation was 2.22 per cent.

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N999 in FCT, N950 in Lagos… NNPC releases pump prices of Dangote petrol

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9 hours ago

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September 16, 2024 11:17 am

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says petrol will be sold at N950.22 per litre across all its retail outlets in Lagos.

In a social media post on Monday, the NNPC said the estimated pump price is based on prices set by the Dangote refinery for its petroleum products.

According to the price map shared by the NNPC, residents in the northern part of Nigeria will pay more for the product, with those in Borno expected to pay the highest petrol pump price of N1,019.22.

The commodity will be at N999.22 per litre in the federal capital territory (FCT), Abuja.

“The NNPC Ltd also wishes to state that, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), PMS prices are not set by Government, but negotiated directly between parties on an arms length,” the NNPC said.

“The NNPC Ltd can confirm that it is paying Dangote Refinery in USD for September 2024 PMS offtake, as Naira transactions will only commence on October 1st, 2024. The NNPC Ltd assures that if the quoted pricing is disputed, it will be grateful for any discount from the Dangote Refinery, which will be passed on 100% to the general public.

“Attached to this statement are the estimated pump prices of PMS (obtained from the Dangote Refinery) across NNPC Retail Stations in the country, based on September 2024 pricing.”

On September 15, the NNPC commenced petrol lifting at the gantry of the refinery after a protracted period of price negotiations.

The development, touted as a panacea to Nigeria’s chronic supply challenges, followed the deployment of NNPC’s trucks to the refinery on September 14.

At the close of loading on Sunday, the NNPC had said it bought petrol from Dangote refinery at N898 per litre.

However, the Dangote refinery countered the claim, describing it as “both misleading and mischievous”.

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‘It’s misleading’ — Dangote refinery counters NNPC’s claim of selling petrol at N898 per litre

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12 hours ago

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September 16, 2024 8:08 am

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Dangote Petroleum Refinery says the claim by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited that the refiner sold petrol at N898 per litre is misleading.

In a statement on Sunday, the company described the claim by NNPC as “mischievous”.

Earlier, Olufemi Soneye, the chief corporate communications officer of NNPC, told TheCable that “this initial loading, it was N898 per litre so far”.

NNPC began loading petrol from the refinery on Sunday.

Addressing the price announced by NNPC, Dangote refinery said Nigerians should disregard the “malicious statement” and await a formal announcement on the pricing by the technical sub-committee on naira-based crude sales to local refineries.

“Our attention has been drawn to a statement attributed to NNPCL spokesperson, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, that we sell our PMS at N898 per litre to the NNPCL,” the company said.

“This statement is both misleading and mischievous, deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded today, September 15, 2024, towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has bedeviled the economy in the past 50 years.

“We urge Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which will commence on October 1, 2024, bearing in mind that our current stock of crude was procured in dollars.

“It should also be noted that we sold the products to NNPCL in dollars with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing. With this action, there will be petrol in every local government area of the country regardless of their remote nature.”

Dangote refinery assured Nigerians of the availability of quality petroleum products and ending petrol scarcity in the country.

On Saturday, NNPC mobilised over 100 trucks to Dangote refinery to load petrol after the federal government said the national oil company will be the sole distributor for petrol produced by the refiner.

The company commenced petrol production on September 3.

On the same day, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said the Dangote refinery is expected to supply 25 million litres of petrol daily in September and will subsequently increase the volume to 30 million litres daily from October.

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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