Digital inheritance triggers fierce debate

Provisions lacking

Zhao Zhanling, a legal adviser for the Internet Society of China, said that as there are no legal provisions for virtual property, it is debatable whether social media accounts can be considered virtual assets. Most network service providers only grant the right to use, rather than own, their accounts, and the issue depends entirely on how the internet companies set up such agreements.

"The majority of personal accounts do not have real economic value－at most, some non-material value. Based on the current law, there is no legal basis to state whether these are legal properties," Zhao added.

Chen Kai, director of the China Will Registration Center's management committee, said such accounts should be defined as digital assets, adding that the agreements are designed for the companies to make a profit, but are unfair to consumers. Due to privacy protection concerns, Tencent, which owns WeChat, does not allow personal accounts to be inherited.

Chen said, "Personal privacy must be protected, but the argument that inheritance is not allowed due to privacy protection reasons is invalid."

He said each personal account is the result of a large amount of time and effort spent by the user, and therefore has value.

Many people use WeChat to run a business, Chen said. Sales staff members at some enterprises use it to form a customer base and they also devote much time and energy to maintaining this base. "Such labor generates value," he added.

Although Tencent does not charge for use of WeChat, the company has gained huge economic benefits from the data collected from its vast pool of users, Chen said, adding, "So there is a trade-off here and WeChat accounts should be considered digital property."

He also said that because of technological advances and innovation of business models, it is difficult to draw up a detailed legal definition of what constitutes a digital property and what does not, as the law always lags behind reality, and reality keeps changing.

"But there is no doubt that digital property is formed, because the person concerned has devoted time and thought to it," he added.

Zhao said relevant legislation is certain to be introduced in the future, giving clear provisions for the definition of digital assets, as well as defining how the value of these assets is measured.

The newly adopted Civil Code, which took effect on Jan 1, marked the first step in protecting virtual property by law.

It states, "Where particular laws are provided for the protection of data and virtual assets online, such provisions shall be followed". The Civil Code also expands the scope of inheritance to "personal lawful property left by a person upon death", replacing the original listing of inheritance items, including income, real estate and copyrights.

"Although there has not been any movement on this front, the Civil Code leaves room for legislation in the future. This is an area that needs to be further explored and improved," Chen said.

He added that privacy protection is one of the difficulties with legislation involving the inheritance of digital assets.

"If the law believes privacy protection should take precedence over the protection of digital assets, it would probably stipulate that if a user does not include the inheritance of his or her digital accounts in a will, then the accounts cannot be inherited," Chen said.

China Will Registration Center clients can include their arrangements for social media accounts in a will as they desire, but the wording does not cover direct inheritance of accounts, stating, "The rights to inherit via a will are allowed if they are provided for by law or agreement."

Chen said, "This is to ensure that once a relevant law or adjustment of user agreements is in place, wills can take effect to protect people's rights."