Raphaël Grave, known online as Jean Pormanove or JP, died on Monday, August 18, in Contes, North of Nice, while taking part in a livestream on Kick. For several years, he had suffered harassment, violence and humiliation live on the platform. While the prosecutor's office in Nice has launched an investigation to determine the cause of death, the tragedy has highlighted this little-known platform and its particularly lenient moderation policies.
Kick is a live video streaming platform, with a look and operation very similar to Twitch, Amazon's popular site for video game enthusiasts. Launched in 2022, it is an Australian company, though little is known about its investors beyond its two co-founders, Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven.
As on Twitch, viewers can pay a few euros to "subscribe" to channels and unlock special perks. In August, Kick reported a monthly audience of 817,000 people − less than a third of Twitch's numbers for the same period (2.1 million) − according to the website StreamCharts.
Kick stands out from other streaming services mainly due to its highly attractive payment system for content creators. The platform keeps only 5% of the money paid by users to subscribe to channels, compared to the 30% to 50% cut taken by Twitch, for example.
The second "advantage" of the platform is its much more permissive moderation policy. Kick allows certain gambling activities that are banned on Twitch, as well as sexually suggestive scenes or content involving humiliation or violence – such as those involving Pormanove – to be broadcast without automatic sanctions.
Not everything is allowed, but the site has actively capitalized on its "edgier" reputation to attract influencers banned from other platforms or who specialize in provocation. Notably, it welcomed the American streaming star Amouranth, who was temporarily suspended from Twitch for videos deemed too sexualized, as well as pro-Trump influencer Adin Ross.
Ross − who is known for sexist, homophobic and racist provocations − joined Kick after being banned from Twitch in 2023 (he has since been reinstated). While Kick is primarily English-speaking, there are also several French-speaking influencers who have been banned from other streaming services, such as YouTuber Marvel Fitness, who was convicted of psychological harassment in 2021.
With such a lineup of content creators, Kick has regularly sparked controversy. In September 2023, for example, an escort was filmed and detained against her will in the apartment of American streamer Ice Poseidon (real name Paul Denino), while Craven, one of the platform's executives, jokingly commented on the situation on the livestream.
One year later, two more American influencers, Jack Doherty and Sam Pepper, were banned from Kick. Doherty was removed for crashing his car live on air, while Pepper was banned for tricking a homeless woman in a staged event (he now appears to be allowed back on the platform). Ross, meanwhile, has hosted figures such as white supremacist Nick Fuentes and men's rights influencer Andrew Tate on his streams, while his content is also regularly promoted by Kick itself.
Kick is directly connected to a major online gambling and betting platform, Stake, founded by the same individuals; the site frequently displays advertisements for Stake.
Stake is illegal in France, and access to the site is blocked in France and several other European countries. In the United Kingdom, where the platform had obtained a license to operate legally, the company announced in February it was leaving the country following a scandal: Stake had launched an advertising campaign using the image of a porn star to promote its online betting service, which triggered an investigation by the local regulator.
The company is also the subject of several lawsuits in the United States, where it claims its operations are legal but where several states argue that it is violating gambling laws.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.