Prosecutors Decline to Act in LINE Group Chat Case|將人踢出LINE群組遭告 男獲不起訴處分

With the popularity of social media apps, Taiwan is now seeing lawsuits about social media behavior. Several months ago, a Taoyuan resident removed eight members of a LINE group chat while he was drunk. One of the eight sued him and took the case to court. Prosecutors investigated the case but decided not to prosecute. They said LINE users have the right to invite and remove group chat members.


Many people use instant communication apps these days. In January this year, a 61-year-old Taoyuan City resident surnamed You got drunk and removed eight members of a LINE group chat while intoxicated. A woman surnamed Chen, who had created the group chat, accused him of "computer misuse." The Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office investigated the case, and decided not to prosecute.

At present, there are no distinctions in terms of privileges between administrators and members of group chats in the LINE communications software. Therefore, prosecutors believe the defendant did not violate Article 359 of the Criminal Code, which pertains to a person who deletes the magnetic record of another without reason.

The Criminal Code's Article 359 says anyone who obtains, deletes or alters the magnetic record of another's computer or relating equipment without reason, causing injury to the public or others, shall be sentenced to imprisonment of no more than five years or a fine of no more than NT$200,000 may be imposed. Prosecutors concluded a LINE group chat's creator and regular members have the same privileges. In other words, people can invite others to join groups, and people can remove others from groups. As such, the man surnamed You had the privilege to remove group chat members, and there were no grounds for prosecution.