France will take legal action against the Australian streaming service Kick for alleged negligence following the death of a man during a livestream, the country’s digital affairs minister has confirmed.
The platform has come under scrutiny after 46-year-old Raphael Graven, known online as Jean Pormanove or JP, died earlier this month while attempting a 12-day livestreaming marathon. His broadcasts were centred on enduring abuse and humiliation from participants.
Kick, launched in 2022, is registered in Australia and operates a revenue-sharing model with its content creators.
“Kick did not do everything possible to stop the broadcast of dangerous content,” said Clara Chappaz, the digital affairs minister, accusing the company of breaching a 2004 law governing online content.
A postmortem examination concluded that Graven had not been killed by trauma or at the hands of another person.
Separately, the Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, announced on Tuesday that an investigation had been opened into whether Kick knowingly broadcast “videos of deliberate attacks on personal integrity”. Investigators will also assess whether the platform is in compliance with the European Union’s Digital Services Act, which sets strict rules on content moderation.
Under French law, offences relating to the dissemination of harmful content online carry penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment and fines of €1m (£864,000).
Kick did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the prosecutor’s announcement. Following Graven’s death, Kick Français said it would cooperate fully with the authorities and was reviewing content hosted in France.
“Our priority is to protect creators and ensure a safer environment on Kick,” the platform wrote on X, adding that all co-streamers involved in the broadcast had been banned pending the outcome of the investigation.
