(Yicai Global) July 21 – The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) opened an investigation into financial information services provider Hithink RoyalFlush Information Network Co. [SHE:300033] on July 14 for publishing a false report which misled investors and disrupted the securities market.

The company published old information about the possible disappearance of Guo Guangchang, chairman of Chinese multinational Fosun International Ltd. [HK:0656].

Multiple financial media outlets published the article, titled Fosun Group Rumored to Have Lost Contact With Board Chairman; 11 Fosun Group Bond and 10 Fosun Group Bond Plummet, at around 4pm on July 5.

The news led to falls in trading on July 6 on the A-share and H-share markets and a significant correction of multiple exchange-traded funds that track the indices.

The CSRC immediately set to work to trace and verify the information before the subsequent investigation. The inspection department found that on July 5, web crawler software at the Hithink RoyalFlush-operated financial website 10jqka.com.cn automatically fetched an article from December last year regarding a possible loss of contact with the Fosun chair. Chinese financial news outlet Hexun originally published the article.

10jqka's staff failed to identify the source as obsolete and published the piece as real-time news in the bond section of the their website.

Media outlets should maintain an objective, fair and rigorous position and perform relevant verification duties; they should not publish fabricated or misleading news, Guo reiterated.

The CSRC has previously worked with the government's public security and internet information departments to investigate multiple other cases covering the dissemination of rumors and false information, he added.