diff --git a/mod/follow.php b/mod/follow.php
index 8a00e0559c..c7a96f734f 100644
--- a/mod/follow.php
+++ b/mod/follow.php
@@ -60,7 +60,9 @@ function follow_content(App $a)
 	}
 
 	$uid = local_user();
-	$url = Strings::escapeTags(trim(defaults($_REQUEST, 'url', '')));
+
+	// Issue 4815: Silently removing a prefixing @
+	$url = ltrim(Strings::escapeTags(trim(defaults($_REQUEST, 'url', ''))), '@!');
 
 	// Issue 6874: Allow remote following from Peertube
 	if (strpos($url, 'acct:') === 0) {