"The dark side of social media is a problem that affects every country": the Jean Pormanove affair is making headlines around the world

Like the Mazan rape trial, the international press is not holding back its coverage of the death of streamer Jean Pormanove , who died during a live broadcast on Kick on the night of Sunday, August 17 to Monday, August 18. India, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Lebanon, Germany, Turkey… several dozen foreign newspapers have reported on this case, which is no longer confined to the world of networks. Libération spoke with international journalists.

"Let's be honest, outside of a science fiction film, a case like this would never have existed in normal times," says Sara Sonnessa, an Italian journalist for Torino Cronaca , when asked why she decided to cover the Pormanove case. Geert De Clercq, a correspondent for Reuters , uses a similar parallel: "In the last season of Black Mirror , there's an episode where a streamer is humiliated live to earn a little money. When I saw it, I wondered in what world this could happen and I quickly got my answer." For her part, the Spanish Raquel Villaécija, from the daily El Pais , who has devoted five articles to the case, sees it as an illustration of the fact that "the dark side of social networks is a problem that affects every country in the world."

None of the journalists interviewed by Libération knew Jean Pormanove before his death on air. "That's precisely why it was interesting to do it," objects Sylvie Corbet of the Associated Press. "Usually, we don't cover news stories very much, but this one fell into a much broader social issue. With the shocking aspect of the death and the fact that an investigation had been open for eight months without anything happening, the case reached the headquarters in New York," she illustrates.

Beyond the articles published in various international newspapers, what impact did the Pormanove affair have in the countries concerned? In Italy, a country that remains "very conservative" according to Sara Sonnessa, "some people say that he was asking for it, while others are realizing the dangers that the Internet can create, where everyone is both a victim and a potential aggressor." Raquel Villaécija broadens the focus: in Spain, "people are especially worried that their children might have access to this kind of violent content ." […] We are very interested in the questions that France is asking itself regarding the protection of minors online: how to control social networks and platforms, should we ban them or not…» Across the Atlantic, «the question is not so much one of moderation and the Kick platform in the United States where freedom of expression is an essential value, but more on the legality of Jean Pormanove's ultraviolent lives », explains Sylvie Corbet.

It's hard to imagine cases similar to JP's in the countries concerned, however. "There was a streamer, Simon Perez, a banker who also showed shocking content, like doing coke live or giving financial advice while drunk ," recalls Raquel Villaécija. "But not to the point of dying in the middle of a live stream." In Italy, "we have a lot of influencers, but not all of them have a positive impact. Some set pointless challenges, others pretend to be health gurus. But at some point, the viewers become bosses. They make demands and always want more," criticizes Sara Sonnessa.

The main reason the case has generated so much attention abroad is because "people like drama," according to Chris Benson, a journalist for the American news agency United Press International (UPI). "Subjects like this, or criminal ones in general, are always popular with readers. This is just my opinion, but I think we have to remember that the media is more or less a type of entertainment like any other for the public," he explains. "If he hadn't died live, it wouldn't have been talked about so much, that's for sure. But there's also the fact that the case was reported several months ago without anyone taking action , or the fact that people watch streamers get beaten up and make money from it," adds Raquel Villaécija.

"The power of the images and the viral nature of this case also played a role in its media coverage. You don't need to understand French to understand that a man is unconscious in a bed during a live broadcast," notes Sylvie Corbet. Ultimately, Sara Sonnessa sees this media frenzy as a good thing: "It means that the media are covering a story that many people are unaware of. But the Pormanove affair should make us think: have we really sunk that low ?"