Photo: VCG

Two Shanghai-based internet companies were fined on Monday by Shanghai cyberspace authorities due to practices of carrying out internet news information services without license that "seriously disrupted the order of information dissemination on the internet."

Punished was Qianyan Network, which operated Meiri Yingyu Tingli, or the Daily English Dictation, an English-learning app used by many Chinese learners. 

The app was punished for setting up a news section without permission and providing political news from foreign media against regulations, Shanghai's cyberspace affairs commission said in a statement released on Monday.

Centering on financial investment analysis, Shanghai Mingying Information Technology's website laohucaijing.com and WeChat account were also punished for illegal news practices, said the statement. 

The company conducted so-called "original news reports" by hyping old news and conducting interviews illegally, it said. 

The two companies were fined and asked to stop illegal behavior and rectify as soon as possible after a government investigation, the statement said. The people in charge of the two firms accepted the punishment and promised to strictly follow the laws and regulations.

The statement did not specify how much the two companies were fined. 

No matter website or we-media, they shall not carry out internet news information services without obtaining internet news qualifications, said the statement on Monday.

According to the statement, the commission has been actively promoting the actions of network ecological governance since January, with more than 1.8 million pieces of harmful information intercepted and removed, over 463,000 illegal accounts blocked and 301 illegal apps removed from the shelves.