Streamer Kick’s failure on guidelines riles Australian web watchdog
By Tim Biggs
Australia’s web safety watchdog has accused local live-streaming service Kick of failing to uphold its own guidelines on harmful content, after a violent marathon stream resulted in a man’s death being broadcast to viewers, and it raised the possibility of invoking enforcement powers that can extend to fines of $49.5 million.
Kick, co-founded by crypto casino billionaire Edward Craven, is the second-largest live-streaming platform in the world. It has grown in popularity and become known for its gambling, violent and sexually suggestive content as its more established rival, Amazon-owned Twitch, has put a tighter leash on those topics.
Edward Craven (left) and Bijan Tehrani, co-founders of Stake.com and Kick.Credit: Eamon Gallagher
Content creators on Kick are offered 95 per cent share of the revenue (made through advertising and viewer donations), and top creators are paid to live-stream more often.
This month, a 46-year-old Frenchman Raphael Graven died during a live-stream, after appearing to be struck, choked, shocked, suffocated and shot with a paintball gun. He had been performing humiliating chores and stunts for more than a week.
“This is a tragic case where someone has lost their life, and underscores how the creation of more extreme content, in this case involving actual violence, can have devastating, real-world consequences,” a spokesperson for the office of Australia’s eSafety Commissioner said.
“It’s evident that streamers and content creators are seeking to create more extreme content that generates more engagement through the opaque algorithms and pervasive and persuasive design features many of these platforms employ.”
Online platforms, such as Kick, are required to implement systems to safeguard Australians from illegal and restricted material, including material that depicts crime or violence without justification, and they’re also required to enforce those safeguards. Kick’s guidelines prohibit content that depicts abhorrent violence including significant harm, suffering or death.
“Platforms like Kick need to be doing more to enforce their own terms of use and minimise harmful content and conduct in streams to protect all users of the service,” the spokesperson said.
“ESafety will use the full range of our enforcement powers as appropriate where there is non-compliance.”
The eSafety spokesperson said that Kick might be restricted for users under the age of 16 when new laws designed to address children’s access and exposure to age-inappropriate content come into effect in December.
Raphael Graven, known as Jean Pormanove, died during a Kick livestream.Credit: @JeanPormanove / X.com
Graven, who performed under the name Jean Pormanove, was listed as the fourth most-watched streamer on the platform in 2024, and was famous for livestreams in which he and another performer were put through humiliating and seemingly perilous “challenges”, instigated by another pair of creators.
Concerns had been raised about his livestreams, with French investigative newspaper Mediapart reporting in 2024 that French police were investigating Graven’s associates, suspecting them of broadcasting violence against vulnerable people.
Graven reportedly told police as part of that investigation that he took part in the challenges willingly. He was reportedly experiencing ill health recently, with viewers pointing to livestreamed statements made by his co-streamers, referencing the fact that continued stunts could kill him.
As part of Graven’s 12-day non-stop livestream this month, he appeared to be incessantly tortured and kept awake. He died in his sleep, on stream, on Monday, August 18. He was discovered by one of his co-streamers after viewers alerted them to his unresponsive state. The stream had been going for 280 hours.
French digital technology minister Clara Chappaz said it appeared that Graven had suffered months of horrific treatment, and that a judicial investigation was under way. However, on Friday prosecutors said an autopsy showed that Graven had not died due to trauma or the intervention of a third party.
A lawyer for one of the co-streamers said in a statement to French media that Graven had had heart problems, and that the torture was staged for the camera. Some of Graven’s co-streamers posted tributes on social media.
The incident has prompted outrage in France, with news outlets showing clips from the livestream in which Pormanove does not appear to be a willing participant. Chappaz said that Kick had been referred to the country’s digital regulator Arcom. But according to news outlet Le Monde, Arcom was already investigating Pormanove’s co-streamers following a complaint from the French Human Rights League in February.
Two days after Graven’s death, Kick said it had banned all co-streamers that had participated in the ordeal, pending the ongoing legal investigation. It did not say how the channel had been allowed to continue operating to that point, or whether the content breached its guidelines.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Jean Pormanove and extend our condolences to his family, friends and community,” the platform said in a statement to media.
“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.”
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