diff --git a/src/Model/APContact.php b/src/Model/APContact.php
index 67c714f9af..c308da3889 100644
--- a/src/Model/APContact.php
+++ b/src/Model/APContact.php
@@ -152,7 +152,13 @@ class APContact extends BaseObject
 			$apcontact['alias'] = JsonLD::fetchElement($compacted['as:url'], 'as:href', '@id');
 		}
 
-		if (empty($apcontact['url']) || empty($apcontact['inbox'])) {
+		// Quit if none of the basic values are set
+		if (empty($apcontact['url']) || empty($apcontact['inbox']) || empty($apcontact['type'])) {
+			return false;
+		}
+
+		// Quit if this doesn't seem to be an account at all
+		if (!in_array($apcontact['type'], ActivityPub::ACCOUNT_TYPES)) {
 			return false;
 		}
 
@@ -228,11 +234,13 @@ class APContact extends BaseObject
 
 		DBA::update('contact', $contact_fields, ['nurl' => Strings::normaliseLink($url)]);
 
-		$contacts = DBA::select('contact', ['uid', 'id'], ['nurl' => Strings::normaliseLink($url)]);
-		while ($contact = DBA::fetch($contacts)) {
-			Contact::updateAvatar($apcontact['photo'], $contact['uid'], $contact['id']);
+		if (!empty($apcontact['photo'])) {
+			$contacts = DBA::select('contact', ['uid', 'id'], ['nurl' => Strings::normaliseLink($url)]);
+			while ($contact = DBA::fetch($contacts)) {
+				Contact::updateAvatar($apcontact['photo'], $contact['uid'], $contact['id']);
+			}
+			DBA::close($contacts);
 		}
-		DBA::close($contacts);
 
 		// Update the gcontact table
 		// These two fields don't exist in the gcontact table
diff --git a/src/Model/Photo.php b/src/Model/Photo.php
index 8ad7f3145f..2d740e1378 100644
--- a/src/Model/Photo.php
+++ b/src/Model/Photo.php
@@ -413,7 +413,11 @@ class Photo extends BaseObject
 		$photo_failure = false;
 
 		$filename = basename($image_url);
-		$img_str = Network::fetchUrl($image_url, true);
+		if (!empty($image_url)) {
+			$img_str = Network::fetchUrl($image_url, true);
+		} else {
+			$img_str = '';
+		}
 
 		if ($quit_on_error && ($img_str == "")) {
 			return false;
diff --git a/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Transmitter.php b/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Transmitter.php
index 06dbaee71f..5f33257113 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Transmitter.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/ActivityPub/Transmitter.php
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ class Transmitter
 								$data['to'][] = $profile['url'];
 							} else {
 								$data['cc'][] = $profile['url'];
-								if (!$item['private']) {
+								if (!$item['private'] && !empty($actor_profile['followers'])) {
 									$data['cc'][] = $actor_profile['followers'];
 								}
 							}