China's securities watchdog fines WeChat blogger over misinformation

BEIJING - China's top securities watchdog fined a WeChat blogger 200,000 yuan ($31,302) for producing and spreading market-disturbing misinformation.

A 200,000-yuan fine is the top punishment for such practices.

A media worker surnamed Cao wrote a story on his WeChat blogging account late last November which claimed financial institutions and property developers held a private meeting in the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which caused disturbances to the stocks market.

However, the meeting was just a routine gathering, and the CSRC was not involved at all, the securities regulator pointed out.

The authenticity and accuracy of information communication is vital to the smooth running 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 over 1,000 fraudulent stocks-related WeChat accounts.