Coco.gg
Coco was a French-language online chat website without registration and free to access, created by Isaac Steidl, and known for being regularly associated with criminal cases. It was closed in June 2024. The site was variously referred to as Coco Chat or Cocoland.
Usage
The website was named after its logo, a stylized coconut. It was facilitated by the advent of Web 2.0. Previously, group discussions were only possible via Internet Relay Chat, which was challenging for the general public.Like many online chat platforms, the site facilitated connections between its users around public or private chat rooms and allowed everyone to exchange private messages. It was often likened to a dating site.
Because it permitted its users to remain anonymous, the site was particularly popular with gay people.
History
Since launch in by French-born Isaac Steidl, the site appears to have belonged to several companies based in France or Hong Kong, apparently all owned by Steidl. Until, the site was hosted in France and was reached by a French domain name at the address coco.fr. Some time after the arrest of Dominique Pelicot in the Mazan rapes case, Coco moved its domain registration from France to Guernsey, adopting a.gg domain name which it can be seen was first registered on 31 December 2020.In 2023, while still using the Guernsey domain name, the site was being operated by Bulgarian company Vinci SA and was recording 500,000 visits per month. Steidl himself settled in Eastern Europe and became an Italian citizen, renouncing his French nationality.
On June 25, 2024, the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office announced closure of the site and the judicial seizure of its servers. At the time of the closure France Info reported that it was hosted in Belgium and the closure had been facilitated through Eurojust multijurisdictional cooperation. Other sources stated at the time that site had been hosted in Germany.
Subsequent to the closure several apparent successor or clone sites have been seen, such as coco-chat.fr and blairoudeurs.fr, but it is not clear what connection, if any, they may have had to coco-chat.
In January 2025, Steidl was taken into custody by French law enforcement. He was charged with aggravated procuring, aggravated money laundering and criminal conspiracy, as well as complicity in drug trafficking, child pornography and corruption of minors. Several bank accounts connected to the website were frozen in Hungary, Germany, Lithuania and the Netherlands, and 5 million euros were confiscated.
Controversies and cases
Easily accessible, simple to use, and without content moderation, coco.fr was frequently associated with pedocriminal cases, homophobic incidents, or those related to drug trafficking. Its lack of moderation and a message history that did not exceed a few hours made it a "hunting ground for predators" according to the organization 'Agir contre la prostitution des enfants'. In, the organization SOS Homophobie called on French public authorities to shut down the site. According to French prosecutors, Coco has been cited since its creation in more than 23,000 reports of criminal activity and more than 480 victims have been involved in judicial proceedings involving the site.In France, several violent homophobic attacks or those linked to drug trafficking have been connected to the use of coco.gg to identify and trap victims, notably in Dijon, Mâcon, Grande-Synthe, Marseille, and in March 2024, in Solliès-Pont.
Between and, nearly judicial procedures were opened in connection with this platform. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on 6 May 2024 he had referred the matter to the Public Prosecutor of the Republic. The site was shut down in.