In this paper, I examine the participatory democracy platform used for the French ‘États généraux de la bioéthique 2018’. The proposals published by the organiser of this consultation, the French Bioethics Committee, drew comments from the participants on the form rather than on the content. My aim is to explain this malfunctioning of the debate in the case of the proposals written by the Committee. I analyse the polyphonic nature of the platform, as well as the performative mould on which it is built, that generates a performative presumption. The analysis of the proposals written by the Committee relies on the constituents of the speech act of PROPOSAL and aims to identify the features that are problematic for the functioning of the consultation. These analysis stages lead to the identification of five causes of the consultation’s malfunctioning.