Hunting Predators Online: How Far Can Internet Vigilantes Go?
Hunting Predators Online: How Far Can Internet Vigilantes Go?
Our partner Claire Poirson recently spoke with RFI – Radio France Internationale to provide legal insight into a highly sensitive issue that reflects growing tensions between technology, collective emotion, and the rule of law: how far can so-called “internet vigilantes” go in tracking down alleged online child predators?
At a time when some private individuals — sometimes supported by online content creators — are using Deepfake tools to entrap suspected offenders, an essential legal boundary must be reaffirmed.
The legitimate intention to protect victims cannot justify private justice.
These practices raise significant legal concerns, including violations of privacy, unauthorized disclosure of personal data, defamation, false accusations, as well as the potential compromise of evidence gathering and the weakening of ongoing criminal investigations.
Beyond the potential civil and criminal liability involved, a more fundamental issue emerges: the gradual transfer of the judicial function to unregulated technological mechanisms.
This phenomenon illustrates a growing tension within the digital sphere — the temptation to substitute public exposure or virality for police investigation and due process.
Yet in the most sensitive cases, effective victim protection requires precisely the opposite: a robust procedural framework governed by the rule of law.
As Claire Poirson emphasizes, combating online child sexual abuse requires a collective, institutional, and legally structured response, based on reporting mechanisms, cooperation with digital platforms, action by competent public authorities, and the essential contribution of specialized organizations such as e-Enfance / 3018, whose expertise and support are critical to protecting minors online.
More broadly, this issue raises important questions regarding responsibility in the design and use of digital technologies. When a tool enables simulation, exposure, or manipulation, it brings into focus the broader challenge of design-based accountability.
FIRSH advises clients on these matters at the intersection of digital law, technology regulation, and the liability of actors operating within the digital ecosystem.
Read the full interview: RFI article.
