PARIS — Paris prosecutors have launched an investigation into streaming platform Kick after an influencer died throughout a marathon livestream this month.
The prosecutor’s workplace mentioned in a press release that the French Anti-Cybercrime Workplace will probably be probing whether or not the Australian web site violated Digital Companies Act, the European Union’s landmark regulation regulating social media, or “knowingly offered illicit companies” by distributing movies of people being harmed.
Digital Minister Clara Chappaz informed reporters Tuesday that she filed a grievance towards Kick for “dissemination of content material constituting felony offenses.”
Kick mentioned in a press release to POLITICO that the corporate has been “knowledgeable of the additional developments in France in relation to our platform.”
“We’re at present trying into this matter, together with in partnership with our authorized advisors. We stay absolutely dedicated to cooperating with the related authorities with any ongoing investigation,” the assertion learn.
Kick responded to the loss of life of Raphaël Graven, recognized by his streaming alias Jean Pormanove, on Wednesday by sending its “honest condolences” to his household and committing to “cooperate absolutely with the authorities” in a submit on X.
France’s digital ministry, French digital regulator Arcom and Kick have all been the topic of intense scrutiny since Graven died throughout a 12-day-long livestream.
Although precisely what killed the 46-year-old stays underneath investigation, Graven was repeatedly belittled and subjected to bodily abuse all through the marathon livestream and in different movies posted to Kick in current months.
French authorities had been alerted to the occasion of Graven, a military veteran, being mistreated on livestreams as early as December after a report from French investigative outlet Mediapart. As a part of its investigation, Mediapart reached out to Arcom and to Chappaz’s workplace, however didn’t obtain a direct response from the ministry.
Prosecutors within the southern French metropolis of Good opened an investigation shortly after the Mediapart story was revealed. The case appeared to crumble after prosecutors there mentioned that each the purported victims and perpetrators denied that any crimes had been dedicated, however the assertion from Paris prosecutors mentioned that the affair stays underneath the jurisdiction of their Good counterparts and that the 2 workplaces have been working collectively.
This story has been up to date.