diff --git a/src/activitypub/index.js b/src/activitypub/index.js
index c439821680..ff9dcf259c 100644
--- a/src/activitypub/index.js
+++ b/src/activitypub/index.js
@@ -172,10 +172,7 @@ ActivityPub.send = async (uid, targets, payload) => {
 
 	payload = {
 		'@context': 'https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams',
-		actor: {
-			type: 'Person',
-			name: `${userslug}@${nconf.get('url_parsed').host}`,
-		},
+		actor: `${nconf.get('url')}/user/${userslug}`,
 		...payload,
 	};
 
diff --git a/src/api/activitypub.js b/src/api/activitypub.js
index fd9f219e18..733a0cbcee 100644
--- a/src/api/activitypub.js
+++ b/src/api/activitypub.js
@@ -14,16 +14,14 @@ const activitypub = require('../activitypub');
 const activitypubApi = module.exports;
 
 activitypubApi.follow = async (caller, { actorId } = {}) => {
-	if (!actorId) {
+	const object = activitypub.getActor(actorId);
+	if (!object) {
 		throw new Error('[[error:invalid-uid]]'); // should be activitypub-specific
 	}
 
 	await activitypub.send(caller.uid, actorId, {
 		type: 'Follow',
-		object: {
-			type: 'Person',
-			name: actorId,
-		},
+		object: object.actorUri,
 	});
 
 	const now = Date.now();