College students use QQ to arrange suicide, Tencent was ruled to bear 10% responsibility

The People's Court of Liandu District, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province made a first-instance judgment on September 3rd regarding a civil compensation dispute involving college students using Tencent QQ network to make suicide pacts. Tencent was ruled to bear 10% of the responsibility.

The plaintiffs are Fan's parents, where their son committed suicide. They sued claiming that in June this year, defendant Zhang posted a suicide invitation through Tencent QQ to unspecified public and left his mobile phone number. After seeing it, Fan accepted the suicide invitation and arrived at Lishui on June 24th to commit suicide with Zhang in a hotel. As he could not endure the pain, Zhang gave up the suicide attempt. However, Fan still insisted on committing suicide and eventually died.

The two plaintiffs believe that defendant Zhang invited their son Fan for the suicide pact via the internet, which led to the death of their son; defendant Shenzhen Tencent Computer Systems Co., Ltd., as a network service provider, did not promptly delete or block the "suicide pact" content, allowing it to spread. Therefore, the two defendants should bear joint liability for compensating for the death of their son Fan.

After deliberation, the court believed that defendant Zhang had repeatedly posted suicide invitations in different QQ groups to unspecified targets over a long period, and defendant Tencent Company had consistently failed to take measures against such harmful information that could infringe upon others' rights to life and health, resulting in Fan making a suicide pact with Zhang and carrying out the act. The actions of the two defendants indirectly combined to cause the damage, and they should bear corresponding compensation responsibilities according to the degree of negligence and causality proportion. The two plaintiffs, as entitled parties for compensation, have the right to demand that the two defendants assume compensation responsibilities.

In view of the case facts, the court legally made a first-instance judgment: within ten days after the verdict takes effect, defendant Zhang shall compensate 20% of the death compensation, funeral expenses, and transportation costs to Fan's parents amounting to 101,225 yuan, and 10,000 yuan for mental distress damages, totaling 111,225 yuan; within ten days after the verdict takes effect, defendant Tencent Company shall compensate 10% of the death compensation, funeral expenses, and transportation costs amounting to 50,612.50 yuan, and 5,000 yuan for mental distress damages, totaling 55,612.50 yuan.