THE securities regulator has fined a blogger 200,000 yuan (US$31,650) for producing and spreading information that was inaccurate and market-disturbing, the harshest penalty to date for such behavior. In a post on the popular social media platform WeChat in November, an Internet media worker identified only by the surname Cao said financial institutions and property developers had held a private meeting at the premises of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the securities regulator. The post caused disruptions on the stock market, the CSRC said in a statement Friday. The meeting was a routine gathering, and the CSRC was not involved at all, the securities regulator said. Xinhua said the 200,000-yuan fine is the top punishment for such practices. The authenticity and accuracy of information dissemination is vital to the smooth operation of the capital market and emerging media platforms such as Weibo and WeChat must also obey rules and laws, or they will be punished, according to the CSRC. Social media platforms such as Weibo and WeChat have become popular arenas for investors to exchange information, and are also a tool for misleading behavior. Tencent launched a clean-up campaign last year, disabling more than 1,000 fraudulent stocks-related WeChat accounts, Xinhua said. (SD-Agencies) |