Five people in Chaozhou, Guangdong province, are subject to administrative penalties due to successive posting of unverified or fabricated information and comments online, according to the local cybersecurity department.

The five surnamed Xie, Zhang, Su, Cai and Dai, posted unverified information that led to online rumors that the recent closure of some shops was to avoid fire inspections and subsequent fines.

On Monday, the local cybersecurity department said that fire inspections are routine tasks conducted by the relevant department, and there was no large-scale closure of shops to evade fire inspections in the area.

According to previous reports by Southcn.com, a few local shops indeed closed on Thursday and Friday but had mostly resumed business by Saturday.