论微信群主的民事责任承担

微信群主与群成员之间是一种法律调整之外的情谊关系,两者行使微信平台赋予的比如建群、退群或移除群聊等功能权限的行为属于情谊行为。但这并不意味着微信群不受法律调整,法规范层面已对群主和群成员权利义务作出规定。对于群主而言,因其对微信群负有法定管理职责,若群成员之侵权行为损害他人合法权益,则群主应当承担共同侵权责任。群主对于微信群内可能产生的风险具有较强的控制力,其管理职责本质上属于一般注意义务的范畴,这与以一般注意义务为理论基础的安全保障义务具有内在关联性。微信群内的群聊行为与《侵权责任法》第37条规定的群众性活动性质上均属于不特定多数人参加的活动。因此,当群成员侵害他人合法权益时,群主应当承担补充侵权责任。但如果群主已经在功能权限范围内采取了必要措施,则认为其尽到了管理义务,应予免责。

The Legal Status and Civil Liabilities of WeChat Group Leader

In WeChat group,the relationship between its leader and members is a sort of friendship beyond legal adjustment.Users’behaviors exercising the WeChat application functions,such as to set up a group,retreat from a group or remove members out of a group,should be treated as friendship behaviors.Whereas it in no way means that WeChat groups are out of reach of law,to the opposite,legal norms have already established rules on rights and obligations of both the leader and members.As to group leader,because of the legal duty of group management,if any group member infringes upon the legitimate rights or interests of others,then the leader should bear joint tort liability.Group leader usually has a relatively strong control over the possible risks/her management duty falls into the scope of general duty of care,which creates a internal correlation to the security obligation that is also based on general duty of care.Both of group chatting and mass activities stipulated in Article 37 of the Tort Liability Act are activities involving an unspecified number of people.Hence,if a group member infringes others rights or interests,the group leader should be under supplementary liability.However,if the/she is considered to have fulfilled the management duty and should be exempted from liability.