France’s Child-Protection Chief Refers Chatiw to Prosecutors and Arcom

Overview

• Sarah El Haïry said she alerted Pharos on April 28 and then notified Arcom and the Paris prosecutor on May 1 after reports that Chatiw displayed sexual messages as soon as users entered the site.
• Chatiw lets people chat with strangers without creating an account or proving their age, and its French interface draws about 370,000 visits a month according to Similarweb.
• The referral follows earlier alerts targeting Chaat.fr and legarçon.net, and it comes as authorities probe the reappearance of Coco/Cocoland, a forum closed by courts in 2024 over links to sexual crimes.
• Pharos is the government portal for illegal-content reports and Arcom is the national digital regulator, and both bodies now have the case for review and possible enforcement steps.
• El Haïry backs the new French rule that requires age checks for social networks used by under‑15s and she says leaders of platforms that lack basic protections could face criminal liability.