Recently, an online National Day campaign was launched by Tencent, adding the national flag on the Wechat profile picture. Afterward, a blogger put forward his view that it is illegal to use the national flag as a Wechat profile picture. So is it illegal for an individual to use the national flag as a Wechat profile picture?

According to article 9 of the advertisement law of the People's Republic of China, advertisements shall not use or disguisedly use the national flag, national emblem, national anthem, military flag, military anthem, military emblem of the People's Republic of China. Therefore, the alleged use of the flag in advertising and marketing is likely to be involved in breaking the law.

It is not illegal to express patriotic passion with the flag. However, according to article 19 of Law of the People's Republic of China on the National Flag, "Whoever desecrates the National Flag of the People's Republic of China by publicly and wilfully burning, mutilating, scrawling on, defiling or trampling upon it shall be investigated for criminal responsibilities; where the offense is relatively minor, he shall be detained for not more than 15 days by the public security organ in reference to the provisions of the Regulations on Administrative Penalties for Public Security. " Therefore, we should pay attention to whether Wechat profile picture and the account itself contain illegal or insulting content when we use it.

Secondly, according to article 10.1.1 of the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, those identical with or similar to national flag of the People’s Republic of China shall not be used as trademarks.

The National Flag of the People's Republic of China is the symbol and hallmark of the People's Republic of China. All citizens and organizations shall respect and care for the National Flag.