French police are investigating the live-streamed death of a man who had regularly been shown enduring violence and humiliations, raising concerns about the practice of broadcasting such content online.
Issued on: 21/08/2025 -
The French streamer known as Jean Pormanove broadcast his videos - and his death - on the Australian streaming platform Kick. © AFP TV
Prosecutors ordered an autopsy and opened an investigation into the death of Raphael Graven, 46, in the village of Contes, north of Nice in southern France, that was broadcast on Monday on the live streaming platform Kick.
Graven, known online as Jean Pormanove, or JP, had built a following of hundreds of thousands on the platform by participating in live "trash streaming", in which he was physically assaulted or humiliated as viewers watched live and sometimes donated money.
On Monday, on the 12th day of a live stream, Graven was shown on the platform getting angry after being hit several times.
Later he was shown lying under a sheet while another man, one of two men in the room with him, known by pseudonyms NarutoVie and Safine, threw a plastic water bottle at him.
A moderator of the channel streaming the content told viewers that Graven was dead, which the Nice prosecutors office later confirmed.
“Several interviews with people present at the time of his death have been conducted without yielding leads as to its causes,” prosecutor Damien Martinelli said in a statement.
NarutoVie and Safine had been questioned by police in January in a separate inquiry, following reporting by Mediapart that they were mistreating vulnerable people online to generate revenue.
Graven was interviewed at the time as a potential victim, but he denied suffering any actual violence, Martinelli said.
Instead, Graven and another suspected victim told police the events were staged in order to generate money.
Viewers could donate money to him during the stream, and he told investigators that he earned up to €6,000 through contracts with the platform.
Minister hits out at content
France's Minister for digital affairs, Clara Chappaz, called Graven’s death online “an absolute horror” and condemned the violent content in which he had appeared online.
She said she had referred the matter to Arcom, the regulatory authority that oversees streaming platforms, as well as well as to the Pharos platform, which investigates illegal content and behaviour online. She added that she had asked the managers of the platform for explanations.
Kick, an Australia-registered live streaming platform that shares revenue with content creators, is seen as having less stringent user terms than the market leader Twitch.
The company said on Wednesday that all those involved with the death had been banned from the platform, pending the outcome of the investigation, and that it was re-evaluating its French content.
(with newswires)
Prosecutors ordered an autopsy and opened an investigation into the death of Raphael Graven, 46, in the village of Contes, north of Nice in southern France, that was broadcast on Monday on the live streaming platform Kick.
Graven, known online as Jean Pormanove, or JP, had built a following of hundreds of thousands on the platform by participating in live "trash streaming", in which he was physically assaulted or humiliated as viewers watched live and sometimes donated money.
On Monday, on the 12th day of a live stream, Graven was shown on the platform getting angry after being hit several times.
Later he was shown lying under a sheet while another man, one of two men in the room with him, known by pseudonyms NarutoVie and Safine, threw a plastic water bottle at him.
A moderator of the channel streaming the content told viewers that Graven was dead, which the Nice prosecutors office later confirmed.
“Several interviews with people present at the time of his death have been conducted without yielding leads as to its causes,” prosecutor Damien Martinelli said in a statement.
NarutoVie and Safine had been questioned by police in January in a separate inquiry, following reporting by Mediapart that they were mistreating vulnerable people online to generate revenue.
Graven was interviewed at the time as a potential victim, but he denied suffering any actual violence, Martinelli said.
Instead, Graven and another suspected victim told police the events were staged in order to generate money.
Viewers could donate money to him during the stream, and he told investigators that he earned up to €6,000 through contracts with the platform.
Minister hits out at content
France's Minister for digital affairs, Clara Chappaz, called Graven’s death online “an absolute horror” and condemned the violent content in which he had appeared online.
She said she had referred the matter to Arcom, the regulatory authority that oversees streaming platforms, as well as well as to the Pharos platform, which investigates illegal content and behaviour online. She added that she had asked the managers of the platform for explanations.
Kick, an Australia-registered live streaming platform that shares revenue with content creators, is seen as having less stringent user terms than the market leader Twitch.
The company said on Wednesday that all those involved with the death had been banned from the platform, pending the outcome of the investigation, and that it was re-evaluating its French content.
(with newswires)
The death of a French streamer sheds light on the depths and horrors of ‘trash streaming’
Copyright `@jeanpormanove - Instagram / Kick
By Sarah Miansoni
21/08/2025
French streamer Jean Pormanove was known for performing extreme acts in live broadcasts. His death exposes a disturbing internet phenomenon.
Content warning: This article includes mentions of violence, suicide and extreme acts that some readers might find disturbing.
It’s a tragedy that has exposed a lesser-known side of internet culture.
French streamer Raphaël Graven, known online as Jean Pormanove, died on Monday in southern France during a live broadcast on the Kick streaming platform.
Graven, 46, was one of France’s first ever streamers and had about half a million followers on his various channels.
Over the years, he had become known for engaging in degrading acts on screen, such as strangulation and ingestion of toxic chemicals, sometimes at the request and with the financial support of live viewers.
Graven appeared alongside three other people – his regular streaming partners – throughout the 12-day long broadcast that led up to his death.
Footage shared on social media showed two of these men, known as Naruto and Safine, physically abusing and berating him. France's digital affairs and artificial intelligence minister Clara Chappaz described the incident as “absolute horror”.
French police opened an investigation into Graven’s death, and an autopsy should be performed today.
Rapper Drake and US streamer Adin Ross, who are both financially linked to Kick’s parent company, have offered to pay for Graven’s funeral.
This episode of horrific violence sheds light on a subgenre of live online content that is driven by streamers who engage in humiliating and sometimes dangerous behaviour.
The disturbing horrors of trash streaming
Graven’s case is reminiscent of trash streaming, a phenomenon that originated in the 2010s and became popular in Russia and Poland.
Trash streamers commit degrading, violent and sometimes fatal acts against themselves or others.
In 2021, a Russian streamer was sentenced to six years in prison for the death of his 28-year-old pregnant girlfriend during a December 2020 live stream. The man beat his partner, causing traumatic brain injury, and locked her out of their home while she was wearing only her underwear, the Moscow Times reported.
Paramedics pronounced the young woman dead while cameras were still rolling. Russia later adopted a federal law banning trash streams.
The audience is a key participant in trash streaming.
“Viewers are often curious about what extremes trash streamers are capable of going to,” said researchers Barbara Cyrek and Malwina Popiołek in a 2022 article. “The greater the availability of tools allowing to influence the shape of the broadcast, the potentially greater the chances for more extreme content.”
On platforms like Kick or even YouTube, viewers can donate money to incentivise content creators to go further.
The first episode of the seventh Black Mirror series, which aired in April, takes inspiration from this phenomenon. The main character, played by Chris O’Dowd, joins a fictional trash streaming site named "Dum Dummies", where he performs humiliating tasks in exchange for money to support his ill wife.
The episode ends as he is about to commit suicide while on stream.
In Raphaël Graven’s case, the donation counter at the end of his fatal 298 hours-long live suggested him and his partners had raised more than €36,000.
Lack of regulation
Content creators who engage in practices related to trash streaming have found safe havens in loosely regulated platforms like Kick.
The Australian live streaming service was created in 2022 by the founders of gambling company Stake.
Kick’s community guidelines officially prohibit “content that depicts or incites abhorrent violence including significant harm, suffering or death,” as well as “displays of serious and significant self-harm.” However, the platform grew its brand and user base thanks to more lenient moderation policies compared to rivals like Twitch.
In December, French media Mediapart had already revealed that Raphaël Graven was the victim of a yearslong “business of humiliation.”
The story prompted prosecutors to open an investigation, with Graven’s partners Naruto and Safine being briefly taken into custody.
Kick temporarily suspended his channel before it was allowed to broadcast again. Mediapart’s revelations prompted no political or legislative follow-up at the time.
The platform has banned all streamers involved in the video of Graven’s death and is reviewing its French content, it said on Wednesday. However, Kick did not say whether it would update its community guidelines, which currently state that “live streaming, by its nature, is unpredictable” and that “it's impossible to foresee every outcome.”
Copyright `@jeanpormanove - Instagram / Kick
By Sarah Miansoni
21/08/2025
French streamer Jean Pormanove was known for performing extreme acts in live broadcasts. His death exposes a disturbing internet phenomenon.
Content warning: This article includes mentions of violence, suicide and extreme acts that some readers might find disturbing.
It’s a tragedy that has exposed a lesser-known side of internet culture.
French streamer Raphaël Graven, known online as Jean Pormanove, died on Monday in southern France during a live broadcast on the Kick streaming platform.
Graven, 46, was one of France’s first ever streamers and had about half a million followers on his various channels.
Over the years, he had become known for engaging in degrading acts on screen, such as strangulation and ingestion of toxic chemicals, sometimes at the request and with the financial support of live viewers.
Graven appeared alongside three other people – his regular streaming partners – throughout the 12-day long broadcast that led up to his death.
Footage shared on social media showed two of these men, known as Naruto and Safine, physically abusing and berating him. France's digital affairs and artificial intelligence minister Clara Chappaz described the incident as “absolute horror”.
French police opened an investigation into Graven’s death, and an autopsy should be performed today.
Rapper Drake and US streamer Adin Ross, who are both financially linked to Kick’s parent company, have offered to pay for Graven’s funeral.
This episode of horrific violence sheds light on a subgenre of live online content that is driven by streamers who engage in humiliating and sometimes dangerous behaviour.
The disturbing horrors of trash streaming
Graven’s case is reminiscent of trash streaming, a phenomenon that originated in the 2010s and became popular in Russia and Poland.
Trash streamers commit degrading, violent and sometimes fatal acts against themselves or others.
In 2021, a Russian streamer was sentenced to six years in prison for the death of his 28-year-old pregnant girlfriend during a December 2020 live stream. The man beat his partner, causing traumatic brain injury, and locked her out of their home while she was wearing only her underwear, the Moscow Times reported.
Paramedics pronounced the young woman dead while cameras were still rolling. Russia later adopted a federal law banning trash streams.
The audience is a key participant in trash streaming.
“Viewers are often curious about what extremes trash streamers are capable of going to,” said researchers Barbara Cyrek and Malwina Popiołek in a 2022 article. “The greater the availability of tools allowing to influence the shape of the broadcast, the potentially greater the chances for more extreme content.”
On platforms like Kick or even YouTube, viewers can donate money to incentivise content creators to go further.
The first episode of the seventh Black Mirror series, which aired in April, takes inspiration from this phenomenon. The main character, played by Chris O’Dowd, joins a fictional trash streaming site named "Dum Dummies", where he performs humiliating tasks in exchange for money to support his ill wife.
The episode ends as he is about to commit suicide while on stream.
In Raphaël Graven’s case, the donation counter at the end of his fatal 298 hours-long live suggested him and his partners had raised more than €36,000.
Lack of regulation
Content creators who engage in practices related to trash streaming have found safe havens in loosely regulated platforms like Kick.
The Australian live streaming service was created in 2022 by the founders of gambling company Stake.
Kick’s community guidelines officially prohibit “content that depicts or incites abhorrent violence including significant harm, suffering or death,” as well as “displays of serious and significant self-harm.” However, the platform grew its brand and user base thanks to more lenient moderation policies compared to rivals like Twitch.
In December, French media Mediapart had already revealed that Raphaël Graven was the victim of a yearslong “business of humiliation.”
The story prompted prosecutors to open an investigation, with Graven’s partners Naruto and Safine being briefly taken into custody.
Kick temporarily suspended his channel before it was allowed to broadcast again. Mediapart’s revelations prompted no political or legislative follow-up at the time.
The platform has banned all streamers involved in the video of Graven’s death and is reviewing its French content, it said on Wednesday. However, Kick did not say whether it would update its community guidelines, which currently state that “live streaming, by its nature, is unpredictable” and that “it's impossible to foresee every outcome.”
'Power of the regulator: Holding platforms to account when they potentially violate national laws'
Issued on: 21/08/2025 - FRANCE24
French streamer Raphaël Graven, 46, known as Jean Pormanove on social media, died in southern France during a broadcast on the Kick livestreaming platform that had been running for more than 298 hours. A government minister said he had been “humiliated and mistreated for months" on air. His death has prompted soul-searching and a judicial investigation. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Peter O'Brien welcomes Cécile Simmons, Researcher specialising in digital harms.
Issued on: 21/08/2025 - FRANCE24
French streamer Raphaël Graven, 46, known as Jean Pormanove on social media, died in southern France during a broadcast on the Kick livestreaming platform that had been running for more than 298 hours. A government minister said he had been “humiliated and mistreated for months" on air. His death has prompted soul-searching and a judicial investigation. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Peter O'Brien welcomes Cécile Simmons, Researcher specialising in digital harms.
Video by: Peter O'BRIEN
TikTok and Instagram accused of pushing suicide-related content to teens
Copyright Canva
By Gabriela Galvin
Published on 21/08/2025 -
The popular social media platforms recommend "shocking levels of harmful content" to teenagers, the researchers said.
Social media platforms continue to push teenagers toward content about suicide, self-harm, and “intense depression,” a new report has found.
The UK-based Molly Rose Foundation created TikTok and Instagram accounts posing as a 15-year-old girl who had previously engaged with this kind of content. Nearly every video that came up on the two platforms were related to suicide, depression, or self-harm, the group said.
TikTok’s For You Page, for example, regularly recommended videos that “explicitly promoted and glorified suicide” and recommended specific suicide methods, the report said.
On Instagram, the fake users were most likely to see this kind of content on Reels, the platform’s short-form video feature.
“Harmful algorithms continue to bombard teenagers with shocking levels of harmful content, and on the most popular platforms for young people this can happen at an industrial scale,” said Andy Burrows, the Molly Rose Foundation’s chief executive.
The tests were run in the weeks before the UK Online Safety Act’s child safety rules came into effect in late July. Among other measures, the law requires social media sites to “rapidly remove illegal suicide and self-harm content” and “proactive protect users” from illegal content on these topics.
But the foundation said the latest findings indicate little has changed since 2017, when 14-year-old Molly Russell died by suicide in the UK. A coroner ruled that exposure to harmful content online contributed in a “more than minimal way” to her death.
The group called on the UK communications regulator Ofcom to take additional steps to protect young people from harmful content online, and for the government to strengthen the Online Safety Act.
A TikTok spokesperson disputed the findings, telling Euronews Next they “don’t reflect the real experience of people on our platform, which the report admits”. The spokesperson said TikTok proactively removes 99 per cent of content that violates its standards.
A spokesperson from Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, also disagreed with the report's conclusions, saying the methodology was "limited".
They added that "tens of thousands" of teenagers are now in Instagram's "Teen Accounts,” which the company rolled out last year. These accounts have built-in safety features such as restrictions on teens’ access to sensitive content.
"We developed Teen Accounts to help protect teens online and continue to work tirelessly to do just that," the spokesperson said.
If you are contemplating suicide and need to talk, please reach out to Befrienders Worldwide, an international organisation with helplines in 32 countries. Visit befrienders.org to find the telephone number for your location.
Updated August 21: This article has been updated to include comment from a Meta spokesperson.
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