After moving your Mastodon account to a new instance, your follower list may not transfer cleanly. Some followers might fail to reconnect, others may appear as duplicates, and a few accounts might be dormant or inactive. This article explains how to check which followers successfully migrated, how to identify accounts that need a manual follow request, and how to clean up your follower list after the move.
The migration process uses a follower handshake that requires the old instance to redirect followers to the new account. Not all instances handle this correctly, so some followers can get lost. This guide provides the exact steps to audit your followers and restore any missing connections.
You will learn how to compare follower lists between instances, how to spot failed migrations, and how to use Mastodon’s built-in tools to clean up your follower base. The article also covers common pitfalls such as server delays, privacy settings blocking migration, and duplicate accounts.
Key Takeaways: Mastodon Follower Migration Audit
- Preferences > Account > Move from a different account: Initiates the follower migration handshake between old and new instances.
- Export followers.csv from old account: Creates a downloadable list of all followers before migration for comparison.
- Instance moderation log: Shows which follow requests were rejected due to server rules or privacy settings.
Why Followers Fail to Transfer During a Mastodon Migration
When you move your Mastodon account using the Move from a different account feature, your old instance sends a redirect request to every server that hosts one of your followers. Each remote instance receives a notification that your old account now points to your new account. If the remote instance accepts the redirect, it automatically updates the follow relationship to point to your new account.
This process fails for several reasons. The old instance may be offline or slow to process the request. The remote instance may have a policy that blocks automatic follow transfers from certain servers. Some followers use locked accounts that require manual approval for new follows, so the migration cannot complete without their intervention. Finally, if your new account is on a server that the remote instance has blocked, the transfer will be rejected entirely.
The migration also does not transfer lists, blocks, mutes, or domain blocks. Only followers are moved. This means you need to re-create any lists you had on the old account. The audit process helps you identify exactly which followers made it and which did not.
Steps to Audit Followers After a Mastodon Migration
Perform these steps after you have completed the initial migration and the Move from a different account process has run for at least 24 hours. Some instances queue migration requests and process them in batches.
- Export the follower list from your old account
Log in to your old Mastodon account. Go to Preferences > Import and export > Export. Click the Download button next to Followers list. This downloads a CSV file containing the account URLs of everyone who followed you on the old instance. Save this file to your computer. - Export the follower list from your new account
Log in to your new Mastodon account. Go to Preferences > Import and export > Export. Click the Download button next to Followers list. Save this CSV file with a different name, such as new_followers.csv. - Compare the two CSV files
Open both CSV files in a spreadsheet application like Excel or Google Sheets. Look for account URLs that appear in the old list but are missing from the new list. These are the followers that did not migrate successfully. Common reasons include locked accounts, server blocks, or temporary network failures. - Send follow requests to missing locked accounts
For each missing follower, open their profile URL in your browser. If the account is locked, you will see a Follow button that sends a follow request. Click it. The user must approve the request for the follow to complete. If the account is not locked but still missing, the migration may have failed due to a server-side error. - Check the moderation log for rejected follows
If you are an admin on the new instance, go to Preferences > Moderation > Log. Look for entries that say Follow was rejected or Account follow was rejected. These entries show which servers or accounts blocked the migration follow. - Remove duplicate followers
If a follower appears twice in the new follower list, one entry is from the migration and the other is from a manual follow request you sent. To remove the duplicate, go to the follower’s profile, click the Following button, and select Unfollow. Then send a new follow request to restore the single clean connection. - Use the API to automate the comparison
If you have technical skills, use the Mastodon API to fetch the follower lists programmatically. Call GET /api/v1/accounts/:id/followers on both the old and new accounts. Compare the arrays of account IDs. This method is faster for accounts with hundreds of followers.
Common Issues When Auditing Followers After Migration
Followers Lost Due to Server Blocks Between Instances
If your old instance is on a server that the new instance has blocked, the migration cannot transfer any followers. The old instance will send the redirect, but the new instance will reject it. To fix this, you must remove the block on the new instance. Go to Preferences > Administration > Server settings > Federation > Domain blocks. Remove the block for the old instance’s domain. Then re-run the migration by going to Preferences > Account > Move from a different account and entering the old account details again.
Locked Accounts Requiring Manual Approval
Locked accounts on Mastodon require the user to approve each new follower manually. The migration process cannot bypass this. If a locked account was following you on the old instance, the migration will send a follow request to your new account, but the user must log in and approve it. To check the status, ask the user to look at their Follow requests page. If they do not approve the request within a few days, the request expires. You can send a direct message to the user asking them to approve the follow.
Followers Appearing Twice After Migration
If you manually sent a follow request to a follower who was already migrated, the follower will appear twice in your followers list. This is a cosmetic issue that does not affect functionality, but it can clutter your list. To fix it, check the follower’s profile. If you see a Following button, click it and select Unfollow. Then send a new follow request. The duplicate will disappear, and the single correct follow will remain.
Migration Not Completing Due to Old Instance Downtime
If the old instance is offline or experiencing heavy load, the migration request may not be sent. You will see no followers on the new account even after 24 hours. To verify, check the old instance’s status page or try to log in. If the old instance is down, you cannot complete the migration until it comes back online. If the instance is permanently gone, you must manually ask your followers to follow your new account.
| Item | Export CSV | API Fetch |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Slow for large follower lists | Fast, even for thousands |
| Requires login | Yes, to both accounts | Yes, API token needed |
| Duplicate detection | Manual via spreadsheet | Automatic with code |
| Server block detection | Not visible in CSV | Visible in API error codes |
| Locked account detection | Not visible in CSV | Visible in account object |
After completing the audit, you should have a follower list on your new instance that matches your old list. If some followers remain missing, consider posting a public status on your new account asking them to follow you again. You can also use the Move from a different account feature a second time if the old instance is still accessible, which will retry the failed transfers. For large accounts, schedule a weekly audit for the first month after migration to catch any late-arriving followers from slow servers.