A former employee of a Chinese restaurant chain was sentenced to one year in prison on Thursday for posting false information on social media about the establishment's Sendai branch being infested with slugs, which led to the store's closure, according to media reports.

Haruomi Enya, a 25-year-old man who has no fixed address or job, was convicted of obstruction of business by deception after posting in July 2022 that a franchise of gyoza specialty chain Osaka Ohsho was infested with slugs, a report from NHK said.

According to the Sendai District Court ruling, Enya's post on Twitter (now X) generated a flood of phone calls to the Osaka Ohsho Sendai Nakada branch, forcing it to close temporarily for hygiene management. The misinformation ultimately contributed to the restaurant's permanent closure the following month.

He also allegedly defamed the restaurant's manager by stating on a video-sharing site that "the manager is bad at cooking,” the Sankei daily reported.

The court stated that Enya had "greatly exaggerated the facts" in his post, and that there was no evidence of a massive slug infestation that could have contaminated the food, labeling the crime as "highly malicious,” according to a report from Sendai Television.

The judge added that the offense was committed as an act of revenge due to Enya's long-standing dissatisfaction with the store and its manager, NHK reported.

Considering the restaurant's forced temporary closure and the significant anxiety experienced by the manager, the judge emphasized that this did not qualify as whistleblowing, according to the Sendai-based television station. The court stated that even if a single slug had been present, there were no mitigating circumstances.