At the microphone of Culture Media, on Europe 1, the journalists Damien Licata and Florian Loisy, of Paris, return on the vast investigation which they published for the Paris daily newspaper, and in which it decrypts the way in which the traffickers make use of this social network as a "marketing tool".

INTERVIEW

The Parisian published Thursday an edifying survey devoted to Snapchat. With 15 million users per day in France, sharing photos and videos, Snapchat is one of the most popular apps for teenagers, but has become a favorite medium for criminals. Many are using this tool to thrive in different businesses: drug trafficking, prostitution, stolen bank card numbers, fake documents, and even the sale of weapons.

"Snapchat makes it possible to exchange photos and videos in an extremely ephemeral way (the content automatically disappears after a few seconds, ed .) This is what attracts the traffickers: they can disappear as quickly as they appeared ", explains Philippe Vandel, in Media Culture on Europe 1, Damien Licata, one of the authors of this survey. "The traffickers are entrepreneurs, they will use the tools they have at their disposal, marketing tools, they will use Snapchat to make flash sales, present their products in a few photos, in a few videos. to attract the potential buyer to an encrypted email, such as WhatsApp or Telegram, "the journalist continues. "Delinquency is rife on this network as on any other application before, be it Facebook or other, because there is this ephemeral side," says Florian Loisy, co-author of this survey, also at the microphone of Europe 1 .

Traffic of all kinds

In Ile-de-France, most narcotics outlets are promoting on Snapchat. "With Snapchat's algorithm, once we've searched for cannabis, we find ourselves seeing the proposals of a whole bunch of other sellers on this network," says Florian Loisy. On Thursday, the rapper Mister You was sentenced to one year under an electronic bracelet for having done on Snapchat the promotion of a point of sale near Villejuif. "This is one of the biggest deal points in the south of Ile-de-France, it was really in the viewfinder of the authorities, because there were broken surveillance mats on the public road. So this point of the deal took refuge on Snapchat to be a little less localizable, and sell just as much, or even more, because well beyond its usual geographic area via delivery. "

We can also find on Snapchat much more harmless schemes, like the resale, for a few euros, stolen bank codes that can privatize Vélib '. Some counterfeiters also show their talent. "In Île-de-France, several thousand VTC drivers circulate with a professional card made by counterfeiters, who sell their documents on Snapchat", can read in the investigation of the Parisian . "It costs 1,500 or 2,000 euros, it depends on the seller and the supply and demand," slides Florian Loisy.

Petty criminals safe from prosecution?

Interviewed by Le Parisien , one of the leaders of Snap Inc. ensures that Snapchat practices "a zero tolerance for the abuses noted". However, the collaboration with the police is delicate. In the case of a terrorist or serious criminality case, the company responds favorably, for one out of two cases, to requests for information made by international rogatory commission, with the agreement of a magistrate. But the dialogue is non-existent for smaller, merely criminal acts, such as drug trafficking. "Since 2015, there have been more than 400 requests for information made by France, none has ever succeeded," says Damien Licata. "The account of a dealer is closed in 24 hours when it is reported, but there will never be any criminal prosecution or disclosure of his personal information to the French police."