Video site that livestreamed Frenchman's death could fall under Malta regulator

Amended Friday 11.22am with name correction

Kick.com, the Australian streaming platform under fire for livestreaming the death of a 46-year-old Frenchman, lists a Malta-based legal representative, suggesting that the platform may fall under Maltese jurisdiction.

However, Maltese authorities say they were never notified of the site’s legal representative, which was only added to the site days after the Frenchman’s death.

Earlier this month, a French content creator named Raphaël Graven (known by his online alias of ‘Jean Pormanove’) died during a 12-day livestream during which he was repeatedly humiliated, subjected to violence and deprived of sleep.

A postmortem into his death ruled out trauma as the cause of death.

France is currently suing the site for negligence, with French digital affairs minister Clara Chappaz accusing the platform of failing to stop the broadcast.

However, questions have arisen over the site’s legal standing, with Arcom, the French communications regulator saying it was unclear whether Kick.com had legal representation within the EU.

The Digital Services Act, a new EU-wide law introduced in 2022, obliges platforms based outside the EU to have legal representation within the bloc if they are to operate within Europe.

While large online platforms (such as Facebook, Google and Amazon) fall directly under the European Commission’s control, smaller platforms such as Kick.com effectively become the responsibility of the regulator in the country in which they are legally represented.

The regulator is responsible for ensuring that the platform follows EU rules and fining them in case of breaches.

Kick.com lists Ryan Barwari, a Birkirkara-based lawyer, as the platform’s legal representative. This would suggest that the site falls under the jurisdiction of the Malta Communications Authority, Malta’s communications regulator.

However, in a statement issued on Friday, MCA said Kick.com had failed to notify it of its legal representation in Malta, as it is obliged to do under EU.

Furthermore, MCA said, the Malta-based legal representative was only ever first listed on the Kick.com site after the page was updated earlier that same day.

“MCA has formally requested the operators of Kick.com to provide clarification” and to demonstrate that it was meeting its obligations, the statement said.

The regulator is believed to be working closely with its French counterpart to verify the site’s legal standing.

In a statement to Times of Malta on Thursday, Kick said it had appointed Barwari "as its legal representative in the EU for the purposes of the EU's Digital Services Act" on April 5.

It did not say whether the Malta Communications Authority had been informed of the appointment at the time. 

Kick said the authority contacted the company on Friday to "verify whether Dr Barwari was indeed its Legal Representative" and that Kick confirmed this on Tuesday. 

Kick.com rose to fame in recent years as an alternative to streaming giant Twitch. It quickly became known for its relatively lax approach to content moderation, with Australian press describing the site as “a playground for degenerates”.

The site had previously been accused of promoting online gambling and failing to prevent sexual assault and hate speech.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to Ryan Barwari as 'Ryan Barwani'.