Weibo, China's popular social network, has filed for US public listing hoping to raise US$500 million from its initial public offering.

The company joins the bandwagon of Chinese Internet giants  that have recently entered the US markets.

Amid the filing, Weibo warned its investors about the continuing tight censorship in China, citing strict regulations such as jail terms for its users if they are found posting and sharing defamatory information against the government.

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"The implementation of this newly promulgated judicial interpretation may have a significant and adverse effect on the traffic of our platform and discourage the creation of user generated content," the company said in its filing.

Weibo was developed by Nasdaq-listed Sina Corp., which now owns 77.6% of the twitter-like service.

Alibaba Group owns a 19.3% stake in Weibo through a $586 million investment made last April.

Weibo was launched in 2009 and now boasts of 129 million monthly active users, including the Chinese government.

Despite the uncertainties and censorship arising from the Chinese government's intervention, US investors have taken interest in Chinese stocks, hoping for their piece of the pie in the world's second largest economy.

More Chinese companies are expected to tap US markets this year.