France investigates return of website linked to rapes in Pelicot case

France has opened an investigation into the reappearance of a digital platform associated with serious sexual crimes, including the case that shocked the country involving Gisèle Pelicot. The website, previously known as Coco, returned to operating under another name, reigniting concerns about the use of digital environments for criminal practices.

The platform was at the center of res judicata in 2024, when Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in prison for doping his own wife and allowing dozens of men to rape her over almost a decade. Another 50 people involved were also convicted.

According to investigations, some of the abusers were recruited through the website, which operated with a high degree of anonymity and without effective control mechanisms. Over the years, the platform has become associated with a series of crimes, such as sexual exploitation, violence against women, drug trafficking and homophobic attacks.

Closed by court decision in 2024, the service returned to service in April this year under a new identity, which led French authorities to reopen the case. The investigation is under the responsibility of units specializing in cyber crimes.

On social media, the French High Commissioner for Children, Sarah El Haïry, criticized the reappearance of the platform and pointed out flaws in accountability in the digital environment. According to her, the return of the site is a “real slap in the face”, as it facilitates crimes such as rape, drug trafficking and human exploitation. The authority also stated that measures are being taken and that those responsible will be tracked and held accountable.

Digital platforms and the reproduction of structural violence

The case also highlights the limits of institutional responses to the actions of digital platforms that operate with a low level of regulation. The ease of anonymity and the absence of effective control mechanisms increase the circulation of criminal practices and make it difficult to hold them accountable.

Violence against women, including in digital environments, is embedded in social structures marked by gender, class and power inequalities, which are also reproduced and adapted in the virtual environment.

The reappearance of the platform, therefore, not only reopens a criminal investigation, but also reinforces the need to confront, in a more structured way, the dynamics that sustain gender-based violence in different spaces, including the digital environment.