Visual China Group fined over user content

Visual China Group, which owns Chinese photo platform vcg.com, was fined 300,000 yuan ($44,758) for flawed supervision of user content, according to a company statement late Thursday.

The Tianjin cyberspace affairs authority decided that the platform's administrators failed to detect in time illegal user content, some of which seriously breached the law, the statement said.

The company said it was not clear when the platform – which shut down April 11 for address the situation – will resume service, but that it will notify clients when this is confirmed.

The punitive measures followed the false claims from the company regarding copyright of the recently released black hole picture, which angered a number of media platforms.

The issue received public attention after the Chinese Communist Youth League accused Visual China of selling images of the national flag and national emblem on its website.

The company said that the photos were uploaded by users and it failed to supervise this.