Humiliation, Abuse, and Death Live on Air: Who Has Failed the Streamer Jean Pormanove?

This article examines the death of French streamer “Jean Pormanove”, who died live on the platform Kick after 12 days of on-camera abuse, watched by thousands and monetised in real time. It reconstructs the chain of accountability that made this tragedy possible and analyses the failures of multiple actors with the power to intervene: the platform, the media regulator, judicial and police authorities, and political leaders. Their combined inaction enabled the sustained exploitation, until death, of a vulnerable individual on a major live streaming platform. Through a socio-legal analysis, the article shows how this case exposes the limits of the EU’s digital governance model, whose effectiveness depends less on legislative sophistication than on the willingness and capacity of institutions to enforce it. Using “shock” as a central analytical lens, the paper explores its dual role as a driver of online visibility and an emerging regulatory concern. It concludes that without meaningful enforcement, the promise of a safer digital environment will remain largely illusory.