France investigates reappearance of website linked to Pelicot crimes and child sexual abuse

French prosecutors have opened an investigation into the reappearance of a website linked to the crimes of Dominique Pelicot, who used the platform to recruit strangers to rape his wife. The site, now operating under the name Cocoland, was shut down in June 2024 after being cited in more than 23,000 reports of criminal activity, according to the Paris prosecutor's office.

The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed to the BBC that an investigation into Cocoland had been opened for "disseminating violent, pornographic, or offensive messages accessible to minors." The original platform, Coco.gg, was an unmoderated site offering registration-free access to chatrooms, and French authorities linked it to sexual abuse of children, drug offenses, rape and murder.

Between 1 January 2021 and 7 May 2024, "no fewer than 23,051 legal proceedings related to the Coco platform" were initiated, according to the Paris prosecutor's office. Seventy prosecutors' offices across the country had forwarded cases involving the site, affecting 480 victims.

Isaac Steidl, the founder and manager of the Coco website, was charged in January 2025 with complicity in drug trafficking, possession and distribution of child pornography, corruption of a minor via the internet, and criminal conspiracy. He denies the charges. His lawyer, Julien Zanatta, told AFP that his client had "nothing to do" with the new websites.

Since early April, at least two similarly named websites with near-identical designs to the original Coco platform reappeared online. As of 29 April, Cocoland.cc appeared to be shut, while another Cocoland-named website was still accessible as of that morning.

French outlet BFM reported that its journalists, posing as a 13-year-old girl, were able to sign into the website in seconds without any registration or checks. They were immediately contacted by users who persisted in sending lewd photos and sexually explicit messages even after being made aware the girl was underage.

Sarah El Haïry, high commissioner for childhood in France, said the reappearance amounted to a "collective failure in the face of one of the most serious forms of violence: child sexual abuse." Websites like Coco "exploit every loophole, they seek out prey, and that prey is children," she said. El Haïry also said she had filed a complaint against two other websites, Chaat.fr and le garçon.net, which she said "connect pedophiles" and on which "there is no age verification" and "sexually explicit messages are forwarded to users."

Coco.gg became infamous during the trial of Dominique Pelicot, who in 2024 was sentenced to 20 years in prison for aggravated rape after drugging his wife Gisèle and recruiting dozens of strangers online to rape her over more than a decade. He spoke to potential attackers on the website's chatroom called "A son insu" — meaning "without their knowledge." Forty-nine men were sentenced in December alongside Pelicot, all found guilty of at least one charge — rape, attempted rape or sexual assault — against Gisèle Pelicot.