Research On Legal Issues Of Minors’ Live Streaming Reward Behavior

With the widespread popularity of the Internet and the flourishing development of the live streaming industry,online live streaming has gradually been integrated into people’s daily lives,with its advantages of rapid dissemination,rich content,and real-time interaction,it has been widely loved by people of all ages,the number of live streaming users has shown a trend of increasing year by year.But at the same time,many social issues have also followed,among which the most noteworthy issue is the chaos of minors’ live streaming rewards.In recent years,disputes caused by underage reward anchors have emerged in an endless stream,especially during the COVID-19,the frequency of minors using the Internet has increased dramatically,and a considerable number of minors have been exposed to live broadcast.As minors are not yet mature and lack the ability to identify,they are easy to put into emotion and implement reward behavior in the process of watching live broadcast.Currently,legal issues related to minors’ live streaming reward behavior are highly controversial in academia and judicial practice.This article will be divided into four parts to conduct a systematic study of the relevant issues,with the aim of providing useful ideas on how to better resolve such disputes.The first part is an overview of minors’ live broadcast reward behavior.This article expounds the concept and characteristics of live streaming reward,and analyzes in detail the process of minors’ live streaming reward,laying a theoretical foundation for later writing.Focusing on the controversial and unresolved issue of defining the nature of minors’ live streaming reward behavior,this article sorts out three mainstream viewpoints currently existing in the academic community,namely,the service contract theory,the gift contract theory,and the mixed theory.At the same time,it analyzes the inherent rationality of various theoretical viewpoints.This article supports the service contract theory,which holds that minors’ live streaming reward behavior should not be recognized as a gift contract,Instead,it should be recognized as a service contract,with specific reasons explained.The second part is the determination of the legal effect of minors’ live broadcast reward behavior.The relevant provisions on the civil capacity of minors in the Civil Code and the application of the second paragraph of Article 48 of the Electronic Commerce Law on the presumption of civil capacity of minors are elaborated respectively.It is analyzed that the second paragraph of Article 48 of the Electronic Commerce Law is essentially a simple allocation of the burden of proof between both parties,which does not affect the recognition of civil capacity of minors in practice.According to the relevant provisions of the Civil Code on the civil capacity of minors and the legal validity of their acts,two critical factors affecting the validity of minors’ live rewarding acts were analyzed,namely,whether the acts were appropriate to the age and intelligence of minors and whether they were approved and posthumously recognized by their legal agents,combining with judicial practice,this paper analyzes the specific criteria for determining the two factors.In addition,it discusses the identification of the subject of conduct and the allocation of the burden of proof in practice,expounds the current difficulties in the identification of the subject and the basis for the identification of the subject in judicial practice,and analyzes the difficulties of proof faced by the minor in practice,and proposes a reasonable introduction of the inversion of proof rule to address this issue.The third part is about the legal liability after the juvenile live broadcast reward behavior is determined to be invalid.This article discusses the civil liability issues involved in the determination of invalidity of minors’ live broadcast reward behavior,mainly including two aspects: the return of property and the liability for contracting negligence that should be borne by all parties.In the issue of property return,in combination with existing legislative provisions,it is clear that the reward payment should be returned in principle after the act is determined to be invalid,and it is analyzed that the counterpart of the reward act and the subject of the property return obligation.Regarding the issue of liability for contracting negligence,in combination with the relevant provisions of the Civil Code,this paper expounds the connotation of liability,and analyzes the situations where the live broadcast platform,the anchor,and the minor are at fault and should bear the liability for contracting negligence.The fourth part is suggestions for improving the related issues of minors’ live broadcast reward behavior.The main recommendations are as follows: First,clarify the nature of minors’ live streaming reward behavior.In China,there is no exact definition of the nature of minors’ live broadcast reward behavior,and it is recommended to improve the legislation to provide a clear legislative basis for the resolution of such disputes.Second,refine the rules of "adapting to their age and intelligence".Due to the fact that the current legal provisions are principled,there are relatively broad and difficult issues in their practical application.It is recommended to refine the legal provisions and provide judges with a clear basis for their decisions.Third,strengthen the user identity audit mechanism.In response to the current widespread problem of weak user identity verification mechanisms,it is recommended that major live streaming platforms set up account real-name systems,use certain technical means to force users to conduct real-name authentication,and strictly prohibit minors from using the reward function.At the same time,we will fully popularize the application of the youth model,and associate the youth model with the real-name authentication process of the account to play a role together.Fourth,set a reward calm period.In many cases of disputes over live streaming rewards for minors,there is a problem of minors impulsively implementing rewards.By setting a calm period for rewards and giving the parties the right to withdraw rewards within a certain period of time,such disputes can be effectively reduced.