A girl uses WeChat to communicate with her friend in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, on March 19, 2013. (Photo: VCG)

The Supreme People's Court of China has issued a revised regulation on evidence for civil disputes.

Based on the new regulation, several additional kinds of electronic data can be introduced as admissible evidence for civil disputes, including websites, blogs, micro-blogs, text messages, emails, instant messages, and group chats.

The revision is the first of its kind in 18 years.

The old regulation could no longer meet the needs of the Internet era, according to the court, which spent four years collecting public opinion about the revisions.