(Yicai Global) Nov. 15 -- China's securities regulator has fined an individual CNY30,000 (USD4,300) for spreading a rumor in June that the country had suspended new initial public offerings.

The Zhejiang provincial office of China Securities Regulatory Commission handed out the fine to Wang Lijian, as her behavior violated provisions of Article 78, paragraph 1, of the Securities Law that "it is prohibited for state functionaries, practitioners of the news media as well as other relevant personnel concerned to fabricate or disseminate any false information, thereby seriously disturbing the securities market."

The act also constituted an act of "disturbing the securities market" as described in Article 206 of the Securities Law, the regulator said.

Wang posted the words "CSRC suspends IPOs" with a fake screenshot of the CSRC website in June this year.

Weibo, WeChat and other new media tools have become important channels for releasing and spreading information in the capital market. Thanks to new media's convenient communication methods some subjects have even broken the law and fabricated rumors in pursuit of making headlines, the regulator said.

The CSRC investigated its first batch of eight cases in May as part of efforts to crack down on spreading false information related to securities and futures on the internet. The authority aims to prevent people from making a profit illegally through acts that disturb the flow of information in the capital market.