“Coco”: intimate photo, messages of a sexual nature… we spent an hour on the site suspected of being used for ambushes

We spent an hour on the Coco site. What emerges are streams of messages, many of which are of a sexual nature and an unsolicited photo of a male. The site, owned by Vinci SA, registered in Bulgaria, is the property of an engineer based in Brittany, reports TF1 Info.

No moderation

Connecting is easy. In just a few clicks, it is possible to register on the site without providing verifiable personal information. Simply give your gender, age, postal code and create a "pseudo", a digital nickname. The 30-second affair.

The user then has access to messaging, but also to a wide range of "themes" discussed in "public salons". "Cinema", "cooking" or "politics" rub shoulders with "photo exchange", "mimis rounds" or "obese round". Another list of salons, this time private, darkens the picture: "P*utes", "sal*pes", & quot;bitches face" and even "show off your slut". Each of them brings together between 50 and 80 users.

On Coco, anyone can create a room: a discussion space in which people with the same interests can exchange ideas. Some of them, displayed in red, include the words "blocked". When you try to open them, a message appears. rsquo;display: "You must identify yourself or take a premium pack to access this lounge."

From the first connection to the site, the immediate appearance of new tabs is surprising. In a few minutes, they accumulate. These are private messages sent by users. The information given is terse, only the town and age, under the cover of a nickname, and yet the messages are pouring in.

Among them, in about ten minutes, a first proposal of a sexual nature falls: "Want to please yourself. I have to exercise with a friend. A double penetration tempts you ? You like to be licked well." Another comes : "Hi, what service do you offer ?" Or: "Hi! You like sex ?" We've been connected for 15 minutes. The nickname used received 31 messages.

Height of "l’immersion", half an hour after registration. A user sends us an image. Just click on it to open it. This is a photo of a male.

Filters exist. It is possible to refuse messages of the opposite gender, set an age limit or block new profiles who contact us. Furthermore, it is possible to only communicate with people who attend the same private rooms as us. The interface does not keep traces of messages for more than a few hours. It is possible to report and block the user. Certain options, such as making several reports over a short interval, are blocked for people who are only on the site thanks to a "pseudo"– and not by registering with more information and a password.

"There are no filters"

"There is no filter to register. It’s a den of predators. It's shameful that this site is accessible, denounces Véronique Godet, co-president of SOS Homophobia, to the AFP. For her, it’s "a site of unimaginable accessibility which is full of attackers of all kinds : pedophiles, rapists, homophobes… " Furthermore, he "has been associated with police or judicial matters for almost as long as he has existed. He is known for his lack of moderation which allows the worst abuses to proliferate", warns the presentation of the petition launched by the collective.

Coco is used to legal cases, notes Le Monde. Dominique P., accused of having raped his wife by chemical submission before "delivering" to dozens of men, would have used the site, according to a source close to the matter.

In February 2023, three minors were accused of having used the platform to organize an ambush. They had tried to trap a forty-year-old by simulating a date with a young girl.