Black and Arab delivery riders threatened online: complaints filed as platforms come under pressure

Fear is taking hold among bike delivery riders. Since late October, racist audio recordings have been circulating on social media, notably during a live session on X viewed by franceinfo. In them, their authors discuss luring Black or Arab delivery riders to isolated places to attack them as a group, and talk of a shooting spree.

The Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation for incitement to racial hatred, franceinfo reported on 31 October. The Union-Indépendants union is now supporting five complaints filed by delivery riders in the Paris region, according to France 3.

Shocked and anxious

At the Maison des coursiers, a riders' centre in Paris's 18th arrondissement, coordinator Circé Lienart describes riders who are shocked and anxious and who do not dare speak out individually for fear of being targeted. She is calling for swift investigations and a freeze on the creation of new customer accounts on the platforms.

For Union-Indépendants national delegate Fabian Tosolini, the remarks are unspeakably racist. He is calling for genuine moderation on social media. His union has announced it wants to challenge Uber, Deliveroo, X and TikTok.

What the platforms say

Uber says it is deeply shocked and has sent prevention messages to its riders and drivers. Deliveroo condemns these calls to hatred in the strongest terms and says it has received no reports so far. The company reminds its riders that they can refuse an order or stop a delivery in the event of assault or discrimination, without consequences.

For the Maison des coursiers and Union-Indépendants, these measures remain insufficient, France 3 notes.

Fears among undocumented workers

In Paris, Communist deputy mayor Barbara Gomes is asking the platforms to guarantee that cancelling an order will not lead to a financial penalty or deactivation. She says she has not yet received a response. She has referred the matter to the Paris prosecutor and reported the content on Pharos, the government's online reporting platform.

She is also calling for a guarantee for riders in an irregular situation: that they will not risk an order to leave the country if they alert the police. According to her, two-thirds of delivery riders are undocumented, a figure that only she puts forward in these reports.

A climate after Trappes

These threats emerged a few days after the racist attack in Trappes and La Verrière, in the Yvelines, which left one dead and seven injured on 23 October. Labour minister Jean-Pierre Farandou condemned the content very firmly on X. He is asking the platforms to protect riders and social media owners to remove illegal content.

What next?

The investigation must now identify the authors of the recordings. Unions are also waiting for concrete commitments from the platforms.