The verdict in the trial of Baptiste Mortier-Dumont, aka ExperimentBoy, a former YouTube star who specializes in popularizing science through crazy videos, will be delivered in mid-October. He has been prosecuted for four years for acts of corruption of minors, the extent of which Numerama revealed in an investigation.
This is a sensational legal case, the conclusion of which is about to be known. On October 15, the Val-de-Briey judicial court will deliver its judgment in the “ExperimentBoy case”, named after this YouTube videographer who has been prosecuted for four years for several complaints of corruption of minors.
The case, revealed in the summer of 2020 in an investigation published on Numerama, highlighted the testimonies of five people, minors at the time of the events, for acts that allegedly took place from 2013 to 2019. The videographer ExperimentBoy, whose real name is Baptiste Mortier-Dumont, an adult at the time, was already active on YouTube.
He was also a public figure in the making, with a significant following that had been built up over the years — his main channel still has 1.1 million subscribers and his secondary channel 305,000, as of a Sept. 18 tally. He also has tens of thousands of followers on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
It is through this notoriety that ExperimentBoy allegedly made advances to young teenagers for sexual purposes. He allegedly requested photos and videos from his victims, and sent them. These exchanges were mentioned again at the hearing held on September 17, which the newspaper Mediapart attended.
Three victims held by the courts
During the proceedings, the justice system retained three names: two of the testimonies come from two people who were under fifteen years old, and the third from an individual who was over fifteen years old, at the time of the events. There had been other testimonies, but they were dismissed, due to lack of sufficient evidence to corroborate the accusations.
In criminal law, corruption of a minor is punishable by Article 227-22 of the Penal Code, which provides for up to five years of imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros. These ceilings can be increased, depending on the circumstances, to seven years in prison and a fine of 100,000 euros, or even ten years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros.
Thresholds that, in the ExperimentBoy case, seem irrelevant. Journalist Marie Turcan, former editor-in-chief of Numerama, who signed the article at Mediapart, noted the decision of the public prosecutor to make demands of a much lower magnitude: ten months in prison and a simple suspended sentence, which exempts the defendant from serving the sentence.
A trial with a difficult and long gestation period
In fact, ExperimentBoy could become the first French YouTuber to be convicted of such serious acts. A seriousness that, in the eyes of the plaintiffs and their lawyers, does not seem to have been fully understood. In addition, the conduct of the investigation and trial has also been criticized, including by the lawyer of the person concerned.
Thus, the finger was pointed at only one hearing of ExperimentBoy in four years, the absence of custody and a search that never took place. No exploitation of the telephone, no search of the computer equipment. Added to this were exogenous causes: the backlash from the covid epidemic, victims scattered throughout the territory, the move of the defendant or the congestion of the police services.
It remains to be seen whether or not the court will follow them, and to what extent. The public prosecutor has, however, added two other requests: on the one hand, a ban on Baptiste Mortier-Dumont exercising a profession related to minors, for a period of five years. On the other hand, an entry in the sexual offences register.
Baptiste Mortier-Dumont, who was absent during the hearing, is now 30 years old and has, for the time being, interrupted his public activities on the Internet. His accounts linked to his image as ExperimentBoy have been generally inactive since 2020 and the media coverage of these accusations. He remains presumed innocent of the facts reported since that date.
The case surrounding the former star of popular science came in the wake of the MeToo movement to free up the voices of women confronted with acts of sexual violence. A peripheral movement, #BalanceTonYouTubeur, had emerged to report such acts among influencers, and in particular YouTubers.
Accusations have thus targeted public figures which have sometimes led to police custody and investigations. This is the case, in particular, of videographers Norman Thavaud (who was the subject of a rape investigation being closed without further action), Victor Bonnefoy (InThePanda), Jaoued Daouki (TheKairi78) and Léo Grasset (DirtyBiology).
