diff --git a/src/Model/User.php b/src/Model/User.php
index 095bf56e72..7432b75774 100644
--- a/src/Model/User.php
+++ b/src/Model/User.php
@@ -31,6 +31,23 @@ require_once 'include/text.php';
  */
 class User
 {
+	/**
+	 * @brief Returns the user id of a given profile url
+	 *
+	 * @param string $profile
+	 *
+	 * @return integer user id
+	 */
+	public static function getIdForURL($url)
+	{
+		$self = DBA::selectFirst('contact', ['uid'], ['nurl' => normalise_link($url), 'self' => true]);
+		if (!DBA::isResult($self)) {
+			return false;
+		} else {
+			return $self['uid'];
+		}
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * @brief Get owner data by user id
 	 *
diff --git a/src/Protocol/ActivityPub.php b/src/Protocol/ActivityPub.php
index 663b03e939..ce960e10d3 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/ActivityPub.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/ActivityPub.php
@@ -1665,23 +1665,6 @@ class ActivityPub
 		logger('Activity ' . $url . ' had been fetched and processed.');
 	}
 
-	/**
-	 * @brief Returns the user id of a given profile url
-	 *
-	 * @param string $profile
-	 *
-	 * @return integer user id
-	 */
-	private static function getUserOfProfile($profile)
-	{
-		$self = DBA::selectFirst('contact', ['uid'], ['nurl' => normalise_link($profile), 'self' => true]);
-		if (!DBA::isResult($self)) {
-			return false;
-		} else {
-			return $self['uid'];
-		}
-	}
-
 	/**
 	 * @brief perform a "follow" request
 	 *
@@ -1690,7 +1673,7 @@ class ActivityPub
 	private static function followUser($activity)
 	{
 		$actor = JsonLD::fetchElement($activity, 'object', 'id');
-		$uid = self::getUserOfProfile($actor);
+		$uid = User::getIdForURL($actor);
 		if (empty($uid)) {
 			return;
 		}
@@ -1745,7 +1728,7 @@ class ActivityPub
 	private static function acceptFollowUser($activity)
 	{
 		$actor = JsonLD::fetchElement($activity, 'object', 'actor');
-		$uid = self::getUserOfProfile($actor);
+		$uid = User::getIdForURL($actor);
 		if (empty($uid)) {
 			return;
 		}
@@ -1803,7 +1786,7 @@ class ActivityPub
 	private static function undoFollowUser($activity)
 	{
 		$object = JsonLD::fetchElement($activity, 'object', 'object');
-		$uid = self::getUserOfProfile($object);
+		$uid = User::getIdForURL($object);
 		if (empty($uid)) {
 			return;
 		}