Guiding Case No.194
Case of Infringement of Citizens' Personal Information by Xiong Changheng et
al.
(Adopted through discussion by the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme
People's Court and issued on December 26, 2022)
Keywords: Criminal/Infringement of Citizens' Personal Information/Wechat
Account/Social Media Account/Illegal Acquisition/Reasonable Processing
Key Points of the Judgment
1. Whoever, in violation of the relevant provisions of the State, purchases a
registered but unused social media account such as Wechat account, illegally
produces the social media account such as Wechat account with citizens'
personal information that can be used for social activities, and sells and
provides others with such account through marketing software with functions
such as intelligent mass texting, adding friends and establishing discussion
groups, with serious circumstances, commits the act of "in violation of the
relevant provisions of the State, selling or providing others with the personal
information of a citizen" as stipulated in Paragraph 1 of Article 253-1 of the
Criminal Law and constitutes the crime of infringing citizens' personal
information.
2. Whoever, without the consent of a citizen, or without the legal authorization
or other reasons stipulated in the Personal Information Protection Law, obtains
and illegally uses a citizen's personal information that has been made public
within a certain scope through purchasing, accepting, exchanging and other
means, and changes the scope, purpose and use of the personal information
made public by the citizen, does not conduct reasonable processing prescribed
by the law, but commits the act of "illegally obtaining citizens' personal
information otherwise" as stipulated in Paragraph 3 of Article 253-1 of the
Criminal Law, and if the circumstances are serious, constitutes the crime of
infringing citizens' personal information.
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