Humans enjoying the suffering of others is as old as the ancient Romans baying for blood when they would send in the lions at the Coliseum. Now, the mob seems to have moved online.
Just as Donald Trump threatens to slam nations that try to regulate the World Wide Web, France is coming to grips with last week’s death of a 46-year old online personality Raphael Graven, who went by the name of Jean Pormanove. JP died after 12 days of a marathon livestream where viewers were encouraged to contribute to keep the broadcast going.
We asked about the death of the streamer who earned a living by subjecting himself to verbal and sometimes physical abuse and about the platform where he broadcast, Curaçao-registered, Australian-based Kick - founded in 2022 after gaming platform Twitch tightened its moderation. In this case, the antics and abuse had been flagged. Yet after a brief suspension, the channel returne show went on. What does this story say about the world we live in?
Is it about the profiteers or the otherwise ordinary people - mostly men - who watched, everyone from loners to football stars?
Produced by Ilayda Habip, Aurore Laborie, Alessandro Xenos and Charles Wente.
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Peter O'BRIEN FRANCE 24 Technology Editor
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Evelin LINDNER Founding President of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies
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Jessica GALISSAIRE Senior Policy Researcher, Digital Public Sphere at Interface
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Daniel TROTTIER Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communication at Erasmus University Rotterdam
English (US) · 