France investigates reappearance of website linked to Pelicot crimes

French prosecutors have launched an investigation into the reappearance of a website known for facilitating the crimes of Dominique Pelicot, who recruited dozens of strangers to rape his wife Gisèle Pelicot.

Its precursor, Coco.gg, was an unmoderated platform offering registration-free access to chatrooms with French authorities linking it to sexual abuse of children, drug offences, rape and murder.

It was shut in 2024 after being cited in more than 23,000 reports of criminal activity, according to the Paris prosecutor's office.

Its founder Isaac Steidl was charged with several crimes, including possession and distribution of child pornography, in January 2025. He denies the charges.

Since early April, at least two similarly named websites with a near identical designs to the original Coco platform reappeared online.

French media reported that the owners of Cocoland.cc put out a statement earlier this month in which they denied any links with the original Coco website.

As of 29 April Cocoland.cc appeared to be shut, while another Cocoland-named website was still accessible as of that morning.

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".

Steidl's lawyer Julien Zanatta said his client had "nothing to do" with the new websites, according to AFP.

French outlet BFM reported that its journalists were able to sign into the website in seconds without any registration or checks.

Posing as a 13-year-old girl, the journalists were immediately contacted by users who persisted in sending them lewd photos and sexually explicit messages even after they were made aware of the girl was underage.

Sarah El Haïry, high commissioner for childhood in France, said the reappearance of the Coco platform 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," El Haïry said.

Children and minors were being "approached by predators" through the websites, she added, saying that the platforms that hosted them bore responsibility, as did those who created them.

El Haïry also said she had filed a complaint against another two websites hosting open chatrooms.

Coco.gg became infamous during the trial of Dominique Pelicot, who in 2024 was found guilty of drugging and raping his wife Gisèle for over a decade and recruiting more than 50 strangers online to come rape her too.

During a four month-long trial, dozens of men testified about meeting Pelicot on a Coco chatroom called "Without her knowledge", where men shared photos and videos of women taken surreptitiously.

Forty-nine men were sentenced in December alongside Dominque Pelicot. All were found guilty of at least one charge - rape, attempted rape or sexual assault - against Gisèle Pelicot.