diff --git a/mod/follow.php b/mod/follow.php
index 075e58d09..09201bed1 100644
--- a/mod/follow.php
+++ b/mod/follow.php
@@ -60,8 +60,7 @@ function follow_content(App $a)
 
 	$uid = local_user();
 
-	// Issue 4815: Silently removing a prefixing @
-	$url = ltrim(Strings::escapeTags(trim($_REQUEST['url'] ?? '')), '@!');
+	$url = Probe::cleanURI(trim($_REQUEST['url'] ?? ''));
 
 	// Issue 6874: Allow remote following from Peertube
 	if (strpos($url, 'acct:') === 0) {
diff --git a/src/Console/Contact.php b/src/Console/Contact.php
index ba65c0025..9dfcf1392 100644
--- a/src/Console/Contact.php
+++ b/src/Console/Contact.php
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ use Console_Table;
 use Friendica\App;
 use Friendica\Model\Contact as ContactModel;
 use Friendica\Model\User as UserModel;
+use Friendica\Network\Probe;
 use Friendica\Util\Temporal;
 use RuntimeException;
 use Seld\CliPrompt\CliPrompt;
@@ -153,6 +154,8 @@ HELP;
 			}
 		}
 
+		$url = Probe::cleanURI($url);
+
 		$contact = ContactModel::getByURLForUser($url, $user['uid']);
 		if (!empty($contact)) {
 			throw new RuntimeException('Contact already exists');
diff --git a/src/Module/Debug/Probe.php b/src/Module/Debug/Probe.php
index 86aa4afd1..6c2891c0b 100644
--- a/src/Module/Debug/Probe.php
+++ b/src/Module/Debug/Probe.php
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ class Probe extends BaseModule
 		$res  = '';
 
 		if (!empty($addr)) {
+			$addr = NetworkProbe::cleanURI($addr);
 			$res = NetworkProbe::uri($addr, '', 0);
 			$res = print_r($res, true);
 		}
diff --git a/src/Network/GuzzleResponse.php b/src/Network/GuzzleResponse.php
index b68f2e843..3b41f6f65 100644
--- a/src/Network/GuzzleResponse.php
+++ b/src/Network/GuzzleResponse.php
@@ -147,8 +147,8 @@ class GuzzleResponse extends Response implements IHTTPResult, ResponseInterface
 	}
 
 	/// @todo - fix mismatching use of "getBody()" as string here and parent "getBody()" as streaminterface
-	public function getBody()
+	public function getBody(): string
 	{
-		return parent::getBody()->getContents();
+		return (string) parent::getBody();
 	}
 }