Chinese court moves to streamline admission of WeChat and QQ chats in civil disputes

Conversations on WeChat and QQ, the dominant messaging apps operated by Chinese tech giant Tencent, will soon be admissible as evidence for civil disputes without the need for notarization, according to new rules from the Nansha People’s Court of Guangdong Free Trade Zone.

With millions of people communicating via WeChat and QQ every day, allowing these messaging platforms to be part of the court record could help determine judgments in some cases, according to legal experts.

Nansha Court, which on Wednesday issued a document titled internet Electronic Data Evidence Proof and Certification Procedures, is the first court in Guangdong province to allow direct presentation of internet chat records without notarization, which is a costly, complicated, and lengthy procedure.

Paul Haswell, a partner at law firm Pinsent Mason, said WeChat and QQ chats – as well as WhatsApp messages and emails – are all admissible as evidence in mainland Chinese courts. “This is important in both civil and criminal cases as more and more communication is being conducted through these methods,” he said.

In the new guidelines, the Nansha court gives a detailed explanation of how WeChat communications can be presented as evidence. WeChat, known as Wexin in China, has around 1 billion monthly active users and QQ, another Tencent personal messaging service platform, has about 800 million active users.

Under the new court rules the parties – if they decide to use WeChat records as evidence – first need to log into their WeChat accounts to prove their authenticity.