diff --git a/app/controllers/people_controller.rb b/app/controllers/people_controller.rb
index 6277e1adf..9d5270573 100644
--- a/app/controllers/people_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/people_controller.rb
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ class PeopleController < ApplicationController
   end
 
   def diaspora_id?(query)
-    !query.try(:match, /^(\w)*@([a-zA-Z0-9]|[-]|[.]|[:])*$/).nil?
+    !(query.nil? || query.lstrip.empty?) && Validation::Rule::DiasporaId.new.valid_value?(query)
   end
 
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