Viewpoint | Legal analysis of large online consumption by minors
Published:
2024-03-27
The problem of large amount of network consumption of minors has become a serious problem under the current development situation. This paper analyzes the problem from the legal point of view.
On March 1, 2022, the Supreme People's Court issued nine typical cases of judicial protection of the rights and interests of minors, including one case in which the 14-year-old plaintiff Li Moumou purchased 374 game accounts from the defendant's online store "X Game" seven times through a platform without the knowledge of his parents, paying a total of 36652 yuan. The equipment in the above game accounts were skin, masks, floret skirts, etc. After the plaintiff's parents found out the next day, they contacted the customer service personnel of the defendant's online store in time, saying that they would not ratify the plaintiff's purchase of the game account number and payment behavior and asked the defendant for a refund. The defendant did not agree to a full refund. After the lawsuit was filed with the court, the court found that the plaintiff Li Moumou was a minor at the time of the case and was a person with limited capacity for civil conduct. The purchase of a game account paid up to 36652 yuan for the purchase of a game account, which was obviously not compatible with his age and intelligence., Li Moumou's legal representative also made it clear that he would not ratify the behavior, so the purchase behavior of the plaintiff Li Moumou was invalid, finally, the defendant's online store was decided to return the full amount of 36652 yuan to the plaintiff Li Moumou for the purchase of the game account. The problem of large amount of network consumption of minors has become a serious problem under the current development situation. This paper analyzes the problem from the legal point of view.
What are the relevant laws and regulations in 1. on the consumption of minors?
The act of consumption is actually the conclusion of a contract of sale or service, and the conclusion of a contract requires that the subject must have the corresponding capacity for civil conduct. According to Articles 17 to 19 of the the People's Republic of China Civil Code, natural persons over the age of 18 are adults. Any natural person under the age of 18 shall be a minor. Minors under the age of eight are persons with no capacity for civil conduct, and minors over the age of eight but under the age of 18 are persons with limited capacity for civil conduct, but minors over the age of 16 who use their own labor income as their main source of income shall be regarded as persons with full capacity for civil conduct, that is, the same as adults.
For minors without civil capacity, Article 20 of the Civil Code stipulates that civil legal acts performed by their legal representatives and performed by the person without civil capacity are invalid. Therefore, minors without civil capacity have no right to consume independently, let alone high consumption.
For minors with limited capacity for civil conduct, Article 19 of the Civil Code stipulates that they shall be represented by their legal representative or with the consent and ratification of their legal representative; however, they may independently carry out civil legal acts with pure profit or civil legal acts appropriate to their age and intelligence. At the same time, the legal representatives of minors over the age of eight may allow them to carry out certain civil juristic acts independently in advance. For example, student A (12 years old) attended a summer camp, and his father indicated that he could purchase the learning materials he needed and participate in paid visits. During the summer camp, the purchase of books, tickets and other acts carried out by A are valid civil legal acts.
Therefore, the consumption of minors under the age of eight needs to be carried out by their legal representatives, and minors over the age of eight can only complete the consumption appropriate to their age and intelligence on their own. in addition, the consumption should be carried out on their behalf by their legal representatives.
Can 2. minors demand a refund after spending a large amount of money online?
Article 157 of the Civil Code stipulates: "After a civil legal act is invalid, revoked or determined not to be effective, the property acquired by the perpetrator as a result of the act shall be returned; if it cannot be returned or is not necessary, it shall be compensated at a discount. The party at fault shall compensate the other party for the losses suffered as a result; if all parties are at fault, they shall each bear the corresponding responsibility. Where the law provides otherwise, it shall be in accordance with its provisions."
Article 14 of the Opinions of the Supreme People's Court on the Provision of Judicial Services and Guarantees for the Promotion of Consumption (Fa [2022] No. 35) stipulates: "...... Where online games or webcast service providers provide online games or webcast services to minors in violation of the law, charge recharge fees, accept live rewards, and consumers request the return of game recharge fees or reward fees, the people's court shall support them in accordance with the law. If a person with limited capacity for civil conduct, without the consent of his guardian, spends money that is not suitable for his age and intelligence by participating in online paid games or online live broadcast platform rewards, and the consumer requests the return of the money, the people's court shall support it in accordance with the law. We will step up efforts to crack down on illegal acts on the Internet, and actively create a healthy, clean and conducive to the growth of minors."
According to the above provisions, as long as the large amount of online consumption of minors is not "suitable for their age and intelligence", they can ask for the return of the money, but whether they have the right to ask for the return of all the money depends on the actual situation of the case. The legal premise for minors to request the return of money is that their consumption is an invalid legal act, and for invalid legal acts, both parties should return to the other party the property they have acquired, such as only the official game currency of the game and not the actual purchase of game props, at this time can return all the property to each other. If the benefits obtained by the minor after consumption can no longer be returned, it is not in line with the law to require the seller to return all the money, but also contrary to the principle of fairness, and the law generally adopts the method of returning the remaining part of the value after the discount.
Some courts have a wrong understanding of the above-mentioned problems, and often regard the payment of the minor as a loss, and according to "the party at fault should compensate the other party for the losses suffered by it; if all parties are at fault, they should bear their own corresponding responsibilities" to determine the amount of refund after dividing according to the proportion of fault liability. This understanding is contrary to the original meaning of the law, but the minor party still needs to pay attention to it, and consider the corresponding countermeasures.
What is the biggest difficulty when 3. a minor to defend his rights?
Although both the law and the judicial interpretation of the Supreme people's Court support the demand for the return of money when minors consume large amounts of money without authorization, this support has premises and restrictions. First, it must be the consumption of minors. Second, the consumption of minors with limited capacity for civil conduct is not suitable for their age and intelligence without the consent of their guardians.
As far as consumption is concerned, it is mainly divided into offline consumption and online consumption. The characteristic of offline consumption is that buyers and sellers generally communicate directly. The seller has a certain understanding of the consumer and has the convenience of further understanding. When adults go to the store to buy cigarettes, the store can directly determine whether they are minors through contact. If it is difficult to determine whether they are minors, the law stipulates that the store should require them to show their ID cards. Therefore, when minors spend large amounts of money offline, the seller's duty of care is higher, and the demand for the return of money is more likely to be supported by the court.
The transaction method of online consumption is significantly different from offline physical store transactions. During online consumption, buyers and sellers generally do not meet or communicate. Even if there is communication, it is often only a text chat record, so the seller does not have a basic understanding of consumers. It does not have the convenience of further understanding, nor can it conduct a substantive review of consumer information. The second paragraph of Article 48 of the "Electronic Commerce Law" stipulates: "In electronic commerce, it is presumed that the parties have corresponding civil capacity. However, unless there is evidence to the contrary that is sufficient to overturn it." Article 64 of the "Civil Procedure Law" stipulates: "The parties have the responsibility to provide evidence for their claims." The above provisions assign the burden of proof to the minor and his guardian to prove that the consumer himself is a minor. In judicial practice, it is necessary to prove that the behavior of the minor to make a huge reward is made by the minor and without the consent of the parents. Therefore, how to prove that the consumer is a minor is the biggest difficulty in safeguarding the rights. In many cases, the minor party often loses the lawsuit because it fails to prove that it is the minor's consumption or without the consent of the guardian.
After the 4. discovers that the minors at home have a large amount of online consumption behavior, how should the guardian deal with it?
First, the guardian should immediately change the payment account password to prevent further consumption by minors, and it can also be used as one of the auxiliary evidence to prove "unauthorized consumption by minors" in litigation.
Second, immediately contact the store owner of the other party and keep the corresponding evidence such as recording and chat records during communication, inform the store owner of the other party that the transaction is unauthorized consumption by minors, and request a refund. If the consumption is a game currency recharge, the other store shall also be informed to take necessary measures to prevent further consumption of game currency. If the other store requests detailed information for further verification, it can cooperate to provide corresponding information.
Third, check the account used by minors, and ensure that the chat records, login records and other memory records of the account are not deleted. The account will not be used further and the state of consumption will be maintained to prevent the loss of evidence.
Fourth, guardians also need to pay attention to collecting evidence that they do not have the possibility of consumption during the consumption period. For example, the guardian is participating in a marathon and other outdoor activities during the consumption period, and there is no possibility of on-site operation and payment.
Fifth, access to surveillance video records. Nowadays, many families are equipped with surveillance videos. If minors are photographed by surveillance equipment when recharging online games, the video can directly prove that the recharging behavior is committed by minors.
Sixth, under the condition of video recording, ask minors for details, including account registration, nickname change, usual login time period, how to know the payment password, reasons for large consumption, etc. The video is kept as evidence of litigation.
Seventh, complain to the local consumer association (12315) and the market supervision and management department, and ask for intervention.
To sum up, due to the rapid development of the current society, the social activities of minors have expanded rapidly, and they can often come into contact with large amount of consumption. The majority of parents, operators, shops or other social organizations need to make joint efforts to reduce or even avoid the occurrence of large amount of consumption by minors, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of minors, and ensure the stability and healthy development of market economic activities.
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