Newsletter Newsletters Events Events Podcasts Videos Africanews
Loader
Advertisement

France investigates death of streamer over concerns of 'horrifying' violence

FILE: A police car arrives at the police station in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles, Tuesday, June, 15, 2021.
FILE: A police car arrives at the police station in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles, Tuesday, June, 15, 2021. Copyright  Lewis Joly/Copyright 2021 The AP. All rights reserved
Copyright Lewis Joly/Copyright 2021 The AP. All rights reserved
By Kieran Guilbert
Published on
Share this article Comments
Share this article Close Button

Raphael Graven — who was known online as Jean Pormanove or JP — died during a live stream after days of violence and abuse, according to reports.

ADVERTISEMENT

An investigation has been launched in France into the death of a 46-year-old man who livestreamed videos of himself being subjected to abuse and violence.

Raphael Graven — who went by Jean Pormanove or JP online — was known for streaming extreme challenges and had built a following of more than 1 million people across various social media platforms, including the live-streaming service Kick.

French prosecutors said he died on Monday at a property in the village of Contes, near Nice, according to local media.

Graven had reportedly been subjected to violence and sleep deprivation for 10 days during his streaming.

Footage shared on social media showed several men choking and beating Graven. In one video, the men noticed that Graven appeared lifeless while lying on a mattress and quickly cut the broadcast. The videos could not be independently verified by Euronews.

Clara Chappaz, France's digital affairs and artificial intelligence (AI) minister, said that "the death of Jean Pormanove and the violence he suffered are an absolute horror".

"Jean Pormanove was humiliated and mistreated for months live on the Kick platform. A judicial investigation is underway," she wrote on X.

Sarah El Haïry, France's high commissioner for children, said his death was "horrifying".

"Platforms have an immense responsibility in regulating online content so that our children are not exposed to violent content. I call on parents to be extremely vigilant", she wrote on X.

Kick said it was "urgently reviewing" circumstances around the streamer's death.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of Jeanpormanove and extend our condolences to his family, friends and community," a spokeperson said.

"Kick's community guidelines are designed to protect creators, and we remain committed to upholding these standards across our platform."

Many social media users drew parallels between Pormanove's death and the British dystopian anthology show Black Mirror.

In a recent episode, a man harms himself on a livestreaming platform in return for payment from viewers in order to fund life-saving treatment for his ill wife.

Go to accessibility shortcuts
Share this article Comments

Read more

French bid to create 'State of New Caledonia' rejected by pro-independence bloc

Jellyfish force shutdown of France's Gravelines nuclear plant after clogging cooling system

French photojournalist Antoni Lallican killed by a Russian drone in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region