Sina Weibo users seeking to have their identity verified are required to submit their employment certificate sealed by their employer, the microblogging service provider said Thursday.

The twitter-like service, with more than 500 million users by the end of 2012, made public the procedure of account verification, noting that on a daily basis 70 percent of applications are rejected for failing to follow the rule.

In addition to providing their real names, ID numbers and phone numbers, individual users who apply for the real-name verification must also offer proof of their employment with the seal of their employers.

The real-name service, which began in 2009 and targeted public figures, has been open to all users, with the number of verified individual users with real information reaching 630,000. People whose identity is verified as genuine are given a "V" sign beside their nickname.

Since the policy was implemented, the approval of applications has become more stringent as the bar for the real-name certification is set higher.

The specific time when the policy officially took effect is unknown. Calls to the public relations department of the service went unanswered Thursday.

Weibo posts by individual users about the verification requirement of sealed proof of employment date back to February 2012.

The verification service previously sparked a huge controversy in 2011 after some employees with the Weibo service were reported to charge money and help users skip the vetting procedure.

Users with a "V" sign are widely believed to be more trustworthy and can also attract more followers.

China is still carrying out a massive campaign aimed at cracking down on online rumors. The campaign started with local Beijing police in August detaining two men for allegedly fabricating rumors online and defaming others.

Beijing police also vowed to further investigate those "opinion leaders" who helped these rumormongers spread the fabricated information.

Global Times - Agencies