A streamer died while live on Kick. France is holding the platform accountable.

Was Raphaël Graven‘s death an unfortunate accident or an act of negligence on the part of Kick? The French government is contending that the three-year-old streaming platform could have done more to prevent the passing of the man known online as Jean Pormanove, and it plans to go to court to argue its case.

Graven, who used the Jean Pormanove moniker across major social media platforms, died on August 18 at the age of 46. At the time of his death, Graven was live on his Kick account, on which he had recently hosted marathon streams.

On Kick, Graven had cultivated a reputation as a human punching bag. During collabs with streamers Naruto and Safine — who have since been banned on the platform — Graven was subjected to physical abuse and sleep deprivation.

Those stunts helped Graven amass about 500,000 followers on Kick, according to Le Parisien. He also played to a sizable audience on his TikTok account.

Despite his success, Graven lamented the violent and humiliating streams that were hosted at his expense. Shortly before his death, he messaged his mom to say he was “being held hostage” and was “fed up” with the offensive streams.

Sadly, Graven’s complaints came too late to save his life. An autopsy revealed that his death was “not traumatic in origin,” but it had been caused by “medical and/or toxicological” means. Graven had been taking medicine for a heart condition.

Even if physical abuse did not directly lead to Graven’s demise, the sleep deprivation he endured was undoubtedly unhealthy. Extreme “no sleep” broadcasts hosted by streamers like Norme have drawn condemnation and led to bans for those involved, even as they have rolled up big viewership numbers.

The sad case of Jean Pormanove caught the attention of Clara Chappaz, France’s Minister of State for Digital Affairs. Chappaz has emerged as an outspoken critic of social media platforms and the harmful trends they foment. Previously, she went to war against the #SkinnyTok hashtag, arguing that it depicted negative, harmful, and unrealistic ideas about body image.

In this instance, France has opted to file a lawsuit against Kick. “Kick did not do everything possible to stop the broadcast of dangerous content,” Chappaz said. In an interview, she expressed her mission to “promptly end this digital Wild West.”

In Kick’s native Australia, the local eSafety Commissioner is also on the case. Kick has stated that it will cooperate with the ongoing investigations, but if eSafety concludes that the platform could have done more to ensure Graven’s safety, the resulting fines could rise as high as $49.5 million.

Though digital platforms have long been protected by safe harbor provisions that shield them from many forms of legal culpability, incidents that result in death have occasionally turned into complicated court cases. A 2024 decision broke from precedent, forcing TikTok to face a lawsuit that accused it of pushing a dangerous “blackout challenge” to a 10-year-old who ultimately died from asphyxiation.

Will the Pormanove case become the sad story that leads to permanent changes in the realm of digital safety? Chappaz is eager to take Kick to task, but she acknowledges that the situation is complicated. “As a minister,” she said, “you cannot decide to shut down a site.”