French streamer Raphaël Graven, known online as Jean Pormanove, died on Monday, August 18, during a livestream on the Kick platform that had been running for more than 298 hours. For months, in his livestreams, the former soldier, who was 46 years old, was subjected to mockery, humiliation and physical abuse (blows, electric shocks and liquids thrown at him) by two other men, known by their online pseudonyms Safine (Safine Hamadi) and Naruto (Owen Cenazandotti). Also present was Coudoux, a man with a disability under legal guardianship, who was also used as a scapegoat by the streamers.
Under the guise of humor and "challenges," these videos attracted a particularly aggressive audience, willing to pay to watch further acts of violence. An investigation was opened, prosecutors in Nice announced Tuesday, to determine the cause of the streamer's death. An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday, August 21. According to Naruto and Safine in earlier broadcasts, Pormanove's health was fragile.
Were these videos illegal and, by hosting them, did Kick break the law? In this case, an initial criminal investigation targeting the streamers Naruto and Safine had already been opened in December 2024, following the publication of an article on the investigative news site Mediapart. Questioned by police, Pormanove declined to press charges and said the acts were staged with his consent – though questions remain about his psychological state at the time and whether his judgment may have been impaired.
The three charges in this initial investigation were "deliberate group violence against vulnerable persons resulting in total incapacity to work for less than eight days," "public incitement via electronic communication to hatred or violence against a person or group due to their disability" and "distribution of video recordings related to the commission of offenses involving deliberate harm to a person's physical integrity."
For the last two charges in particular, the responsibility of the platform hosting this content may come into play, as it is required to moderate illegal content. In February, the French Human Rights League filed a complaint with ARCOM, France's media regulator and the coordinator responsible for implementing the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA). The human rights advocacy group described Kick's moderation as "lax" and stressed that "human dignity is a constitutionally protected principle."
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