Influencers sell WeChat accounts at sky-high prices, difficulty in collecting final payments involves illegality
[4] Compiled from: Red Star News
Case review
Recently, a typical case concerning WeChat account trading published by the Jiangsu Provincial High People's Court from Jiangyin Court has drawn attention: In September 2019, internet celebrity Cheng, who works in medical aesthetics, transferred nine WeChat accounts to Boss Zhao for marketing at a price of 500,000 yuan. Unexpectedly, Boss Zhao only paid 300,000 yuan in the end. Because Zhao failed to pay the remaining 200,000 yuan, Cheng sued in court, demanding payment of the balance and liability for breach of contract.
Jiangyin Court, after trial, held that the WeChat account transfer agreement between the plaintiff and defendant was invalid and dismissed all of the plaintiff's claims.
The court explained that both Cheng and Zhao were engaged in the medical aesthetics industry, and their transfer of the nine WeChat accounts involved was actually aimed at transferring the customer resources within them. It was precisely the existence of these massive amounts of customer information that led Zhao to pay a high price to purchase the WeChat accounts. However, the transfer of customer resources through the WeChat accounts violated legal provisions.
Article 1038 of the Civil Code
Without the consent of the natural person, their personal information shall not be illegally provided to others, except where it has been processed to the extent that it cannot identify a specific individual and cannot be restored.
Article 253-1 of the Criminal Law
Violating relevant state regulations by selling or providing citizens' personal information to others, if the circumstances are serious, shall be punishable by up to three years in prison or criminal detention, and/or a fine; if the circumstances are particularly serious, the penalty shall be three to seven years in prison, along with a fine.
[1] The author's perspective
The key point of this case is not whether "WeChat IDs" can be bought or sold, but whether the friend relationships and others' personal information involved can be traded.
First, without informing friends, selling a personal WeChat account to another person means the buyer essentially posts on Moments and other information as the original account holder, which is fundamentally a fraudulent act that infringes on the WeChat friends' right to know.
Second, in recent years, crimes committed through the internet have become increasingly rampant. If the unauthorized sale of personal WeChat accounts is allowed, it would breed more illegal activities and make it harder to combat criminal acts.
It is worth noting that platforms such as WeChat, QQ, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu all restrict account transfers in various forms within their user agreements. Therefore, from the perspective of protecting social public interests and citizens' information rights, even if personal WeChat accounts have some economic value, they should not be freely bought or sold.
