Is Facebook going to broadcast live the end of Alain Cocq's life?

The last days of Alain Cocq will be broadcast on video on Facebook, "so that people know what the end of life is currently in France."

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• Alain Cocq, suffering from an incurable disease, will stop "all hydration, diet and care" from this Friday.

• He had asked Emmanuel Macron for the right to legally die with sedation, which the end of life law still does not allow.

• His last days will be broadcast on video on Facebook, "so that people know what the end of life is currently in France".

Alain Cocq, suffering from an incurable orphan disease, will die.

From this Friday, he will stop eating and drinking to let himself be wasted.

Suffering from a disease that damages vessels and arteries, he asked to be able to benefit from deep sedation, but the Leonetti law on the end of life does not allow it.

After a refusal by the Elysee to his request for "active assistance in dying", the 57-year-old Dijon has therefore decided to let himself die slowly, and intends to film his last days live on his Facebook page, followed by nearly 10,000 people.

"I want people to see the expression of pain in my eyes" explains Alain Cocq, totally dependent and who can no longer bear being "a prisoner of his body".

"I want people to know what the end of life is currently in France, what the agony required by the Leonetti law is (...) The moment when I will pass out will be a deliverance, the fight will continue after me », He explained.

"Let people in distress express themselves"

Alain Cocq will therefore broadcast his end of life, which he believes will last "four-five days", from Saturday morning upon waking, live on his Facebook page.

Many are now wondering whether the platform will accept to broadcast the death of a person live, or if, on the contrary, the images will be censored.

For Facebook, which has often been accused of not censoring certain shocking content, the case of Alain Cocq is particularly "sensitive".

The social network does not have specific regulations concerning the subject of end of life,

the platform

tells

.

The specific rules - “community standards” - which come closest to this are those concerning “suicide” and “self-harm”.

In these cases, the social network that works with experts in the field of mental health, has a habit of "letting people in distress express themselves", so that they can get their message across, but also Internet users who attend the scene to help them, either by talking to them directly or by contacting the emergency services.

Facebook therefore systematically removes all content "that encourages suicide or self-harm", but not all discussions or videos on the subject.

The platform also indicates to ensure that the images broadcast on a Facebook Live do not reflect a situation of physical distress or an imminent risk to health, so as not to shock Internet users who are behind their screens or give them suicidal thoughts.

Not an overt suicide attempt

Regarding the case of Alain Cocq, the platform refuses to communicate precisely, explaining that it cannot anticipate what will happen.

But insists that their policies generally only allow them to intervene when it comes to an "overt suicide attempt".

Logically, and according to the elements communicated by the social network, Internet users will therefore have the opportunity to follow live, and for several days, the end of Alain Cocq's life.

But as soon as his state of health deteriorates to the point that the images become unbearable, the platform reserves the right to interrupt Facebook Live, while sharing “resources” to help Internet users who so wish.

Over the next few days, Facebook France will therefore closely scrutinize the broadcast of this live and the evolution of the situation.

Alain Cocq has already made it known that his last moments of life would be broadcast without sound, and that it was "out of the question to show trashy images".

When his condition worsens, his carers will also have to call the emergency services in order not to be illegal.

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