These are not isolated episodes but organised crimes by fully fledged communities
In France, the reappearance of a website once linked to one of the country's most devastating crimes has prompted a new criminal investigation, raising questions that extend far beyond any single platform or perpetrator. The Coco website, shuttered in 2024 after its role in the systematic rape of Gisèle Pelicot was exposed, has resurfaced under a new name — a reminder that dismantling a tool does not dismantle the will behind it. What French authorities and women's rights groups now confront is not merely a legal problem but a civilizational one: how societies reckon with organized communities that treat violence as a shared pursuit, and whether justice for one victim can ever be enough when the infrastructure enabling harm quietly rebuilds itself.
- A website tied to the drugging and rape of Gisèle Pelicot by dozens of strangers has returned online under a new name, just months after French authorities forced its shutdown.
- Paris prosecutors opened a formal investigation on Tuesday, while France's commissioner for children called the site's reappearance 'a real slap in the face' to the state's promise of protection.
- The platform's founder, already charged with child pornography distribution and criminal conspiracy, denies any connection to the new version — but the site's reemergence signals that legal pressure alone has not severed the network.
- Women's rights groups, including one co-founded by Gisèle Pelicot's own daughter, are demanding investigations into a global ecosystem of so-called 'Rape Academy' platforms where men share tactics for drugging and assaulting partners.
- The broader warning is stark: these are not isolated crimes but organized enterprises that adapt, migrate across borders, and continue recruiting participants even as individual cases are prosecuted.
In mid-April, France's commissioner for children raised an alarm that would trigger a new investigation: the website at the center of one of the country's most harrowing crimes had come back online. The platform, known as Coco, had been shut down in June 2024 after authorities connected it to the systematic rape of Gisèle Pelicot — a woman drugged repeatedly by her husband over nearly a decade while he recruited strangers through the site to assault her. Now it had resurfaced under a different name, and by Tuesday, Paris prosecutors had opened a formal inquiry.
Coco had functioned as a French-language meeting place for people seeking to commit serious crimes, registered outside France to evade domestic oversight. Dominique Pelicot used one of its chatrooms — named "Without his/her knowledge" — to find the dozens of men who raped his sedated wife between 2011 and 2020, often while he filmed. Sentenced to twenty years in prison in 2024, Pelicot was only the most visible face of a platform authorities had also linked to child sexual abuse and murder. Its shutdown had felt like the closing of a dark chapter. Its return suggested otherwise.
Isaac Steidl, who founded and managed the original Coco site, was charged in January 2025 with complicity in drug trafficking, child pornography distribution, and criminal conspiracy. He denies all charges, and his lawyer insists he had no involvement in the site's reappearance. But the platform's return has drawn attention to something larger than one founder or one website.
In March, reporting had surfaced on so-called "Rape Academy" platforms operating globally — online spaces where men exchange methods for drugging and assaulting partners. Two French women's rights organizations, including one co-founded by Gisèle Pelicot's daughter Caroline Darian, issued a joint statement calling on authorities to investigate not just Coco but this wider network. They warned that these were not random acts of violence but organized criminal communities with their own structures, actively recruiting and encouraging participants. Closing one platform, they argued, was not enough — the infrastructure enabling these crimes remained intact, adapting across borders each time one node was removed.
In mid-April, France's commissioner for children sounded an alarm that would set off a new investigation: the website that had made possible one of the country's most harrowing crimes had come back online. The platform, called Coco, had been shut down in June 2024 after authorities linked it to the systematic rape of Gisèle Pelicot, a woman drugged repeatedly by her husband over nearly a decade while he invited strangers into their home to assault her. Now it had resurfaced under a different name, and by Tuesday, prosecutors in Paris had opened a formal inquiry into its reappearance.
The Coco platform operated as a French-language website registered outside France, functioning as a meeting place for people seeking to commit serious crimes. Dominique Pelicot had used it to find his victims—dozens of men he recruited through a chatroom called "A son insu," which translates to "Without his/her knowledge." Between 2011 and 2020, he drugged his wife and orchestrated her rape by these strangers, often filming the assaults. When the case came to trial, it shocked the nation. Pelicot was sentenced to twenty years in prison in 2024 for aggravated rape. But the platform itself had enabled far more than this single case. Authorities say Coco had been linked to child sexual abuse, rape, and murder—a catalog of violence that made its shutdown seem like a necessary closure to a dark chapter.
Yet the website's return suggested otherwise. Sarah el Hairy, the government's commissioner for children, spoke to broadcaster RMC about the sting of seeing it reappear. "The reopening of the Coco site is a real slap in the face to the promise of protection we've made," she said, vowing that authorities would pursue those responsible relentlessly. The investigation into the platform had been advancing steadily before its reemergence, according to sources familiar with the matter. Isaac Steidl, who founded and managed the original Coco website, had been 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 all charges. His lawyer, Julien Zanatta, stated that Steidl had nothing to do with the new iteration of the site.
The reappearance of Coco coincided with growing international attention to a broader ecosystem of online spaces dedicated to sexual violence. In March, CNN had reported on so-called "Rape Academy" platforms where men exchange tactics for drugging and assaulting their partners, often while recording. Two French women's rights organizations—the Women's Foundation and M'endors pas, a group co-founded by Gisèle Pelicot's daughter Caroline Darian—issued a joint statement on Tuesday calling for authorities to investigate not just Coco but the wider network of similar sites. "Given recent cases such as that of Gisèle Pelicot, it is highly likely that French users are participating on such sites and that victims in France are involved," they wrote. The groups emphasized that these were not random acts but organized criminal enterprises with their own structures and communities that actively encouraged and facilitated violence. The implication was clear: shutting down one website, even one as notorious as Coco, was not enough. The infrastructure enabling these crimes remained largely intact, operating across borders, adapting when one platform fell, and continuing to draw participants from around the world.
Notable Quotes
The reopening of the Coco site is a real slap in the face to the promise of protection we've made. We will track them down, we will hound them, we will give them no respite.— Sarah el Hairy, France's commissioner for children
These are not isolated episodes but organised crimes by fully fledged communities that encourage and structure such violence.— The Women's Foundation and M'endors pas (joint statement)
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a website like this keep coming back? What makes it so difficult to kill permanently?
Because it's not really about the technology—it's about the community. The people using it have found each other. They have a shared purpose. You can take down the server, change the domain name, but the network of users remains. They migrate, they rebuild, they find new platforms.
And the founder, Steidl—his lawyer says he has nothing to do with the new version. Do you believe that?
It doesn't matter much whether he's involved or not. The point is that the platform proved its utility to a certain population. Other people now see the value in recreating it. The original creator may or may not be behind the curtain, but the demand is still there.
What struck you most about the statement from the women's groups?
That they're not asking for one more investigation into one more website. They're saying this is a system. There are communities, plural, structured and organized, all doing the same thing in different places. Coco wasn't an anomaly—it was one node in a larger network.
Gisèle Pelicot's case became famous. Does that notoriety make it harder or easier for these platforms to operate?
It makes them more cautious, probably. But it also makes them more determined. The people running these sites see themselves as part of something larger than one woman's suffering. That's what makes it so difficult to stop.
What does it mean that the site was back online by the time the investigation was announced?
It means they're not afraid. Or they're confident enough in their ability to stay ahead of law enforcement. Either way, it's a statement.