Can cell phone text messages and telephone recordings be used as evidence in court?

Legal analysis: As long as it is collected through legal channels, it does not infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of others and does not violate the prohibitive provisions of the law, then short messages and telephone recordings can be used as evidence. They belong to electronic data evidence and audio-visual material evidence respectively.

Legal basis: People's Republic of China (PRC) Civil Procedure Law.

Article 63 Evidence includes: (1) statements of the parties; (2) Documentary evidence; (3) Physical evidence; (4) Audio-visual materials; (5) Electronic data; (6) Testimony of witnesses; (7) Appraisal opinions; (8) Records of the inquest.

Article 65 The parties concerned shall provide evidence of their claims in a timely manner. The people's court shall, according to the litigant's claim and the trial of the case, determine the evidence that the litigant should provide and its time limit. If it is really difficult for the parties to provide evidence within the time limit, they may apply to the people's court for an extension of the time limit, and the people's court shall extend the time limit appropriately according to the application of the parties. If a party fails to provide evidence within the time limit, the people's court shall order it to explain the reasons; If the people's court refuses to explain the reasons or the reasons cannot be established, it may reject the evidence according to different circumstances, or accept the evidence but admonish it and impose a fine.

Article 66 When the people's court receives the evidential materials submitted by the parties, it shall issue a receipt indicating the name, page number, number of copies, original or photocopy of the evidence and the time of receipt, and the person in charge shall sign or seal it.