The custody of the French youtuber Norman Thavaud for rape and corruption of minors was lifted Tuesday evening “for further investigation”, without prosecution at this stage, said the Paris prosecutor’s office to AFP.

 

The host of the channel “Norman makes videos”, which has 12 million subscribers, had been placed in custody on Monday as part of a preliminary investigation entrusted to the brigade of protection of minors, opened in January 2022. Six young women have filed a complaint against the youtuber, according to the prosecution. Several sources indicated since Monday to AFP that the custody of Norman Thavaud would not necessarily lead to prosecution, in the state of the case. According to the French daily Libération, five of the complainants accuse Norman Thavaud of rape and two were minors at the time of the facts. In 2020, a Quebec fan, Maggie D., had publicly accused Norman Thavaud of having manipulated her to obtain photos and videos of a sexual nature, although she was 16 years old at the time.

 

She had indicated that she had filed a complaint in Canada. In the context of a French-Quebec investigation published by the media Urbania in April 2021, other women had made similar accusations against the youtuber, for facts that would have occurred while some were still minors. Interviewed by AFP, Maggie D. confirmed to be in France to be confronted Tuesday to Norman Thavaud before investigators, as reported by Liberation. Norman, the third French youtuber in number of subscribers, is an old hand since his debut in 2011 on the platform. His videos, according to an official count, have been seen more than 2.7 billion times.