Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse, animal abuse and torture which some readers may find distressing.
The streaming world has been in mourning since the tragic death of French influencer Raphaël Graven earlier this week after he was allegedly subjected to 10 days of torture through the streaming platform Kick.
Graven, who went by the online alias Jeanpormanove, boasted more than one million followers across various platforms and died on Monday 18 August during a live stream to his followers.
The 46-year-old was found dead at a residence in Contes, a village north of Nice, after spending the previous 10 days in conditions which reportedly included extreme physical violence, sleep deprivation, and the ingestion of toxic products, according to BFMTV.
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Police visited his official residence after a number of viewers reported a sudden end to his live stream, where people had been watching the popular streamer struggle for nearly two weeks.
One of his co-creators, Naruto, announced the French streamer’s death on Instagram as he paid tribute to his ‘brother, sidekick, partner’. Naruto asked people to ‘respect’ Jeanpormanove and to not republish any clips from the stream that showed him dead or unconscious.
Graven reportedly sent a heartbreaking message to his mother shortly before his eventual death, which police have now launched an investigation into, although they are currently not treating it as suspicious.
His death has caused outcry across France, with French minister for digital affairs Clara Chappaz writing that Graven had been 'humiliated and mistreated for months', referring to the 'absolute horror' of the case.
Jeanpormanove's livestreams had been investigated in the past
Le Monde reports the livestream that eventually ended in Graven's death garnered €36,000 (£31,000) in donations, with some viewers allegedly pushing for more extreme content in the comments.
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Streams involving Graven and another man who went by the nickname Coudoux were investigated back in December last year.
According to BFMTV, prosecutors said both Graven and Coudoux 'firmly denied being victims of violence, stating that [the videos] were part of a staging aimed at 'creating a buzz' to make money'.
They added: "Both stated that they had never been injured, were completely free to move and make their own decisions, and refused to be examined by a doctor or a psychiatrist."
The dark side of livestreaming
Sadly, the streamer's death looks to be part of a wider trend on Kick, which is similar to the live-streaming video service Twitch, although it allows certain gambling activities, sexually suggestive scene and content involving humiliation or violence, all of which are banned on the US-based service.
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Unfortunately, there have been a few similar cases on Kick where viewers or streamers have faced legal trouble because of their explicit content, with popular streamer N3on banned due to allegations of animal abuse during a live stream.
And there have been plenty of disturbing cases on other websites too.
Earlier this year, a woman from Delaware was arrested after it was discovered she was sharing videos of her torturing animals such as rabbits, chickens and pigeons on social media.
Perhaps the worst incident saw two Italian teenagers arrested after they used Bitcoin to access a live stream where children were sexually abused, tortured and murdered, which sums up exactly the sort of content some sick people are willing to pay for or find on the internet.
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A Kick spokesperson told LADbible: "We are deeply saddened by the loss of Jean Pormanove and extend our condolences to his family, friends and community.
"We are urgently reviewing the circumstances and engaging with relevant stakeholders to investigate the situation. Kick’s community guidelines are designed to protect creators, and we remain committed to upholding these standards across our platform."
LADbible has contacted Kick and Naruto for comment.
James Moorhouse