Mastodon Hashtag Follow Shows Only Local Posts: Fix

When you follow a hashtag on Mastodon, you expect to see public posts using that tag from across the entire fediverse. Instead, your home feed shows only posts from your local instance. This behavior is not a bug but a deliberate design choice tied to how Mastodon handles federated visibility and timeline filtering. This article explains why the hashtag follow feature restricts itself to local posts by default and provides the exact settings you must change to see federated content.

Why Mastodon Hashtag Follow Defaults to Local Posts

The hashtag follow feature in Mastodon 4.0 and later lets you subscribe to a hashtag as if it were a user account. Posts using that hashtag appear in your home feed. However, Mastodon applies a strict filter by default: it only shows posts from your local instance. This is because the feature was designed to reduce noise from large federated servers and to protect users from unwanted or abusive content that might appear in remote posts.

The root cause is a per-hashtag privacy setting called “Local only.” When you follow a hashtag, Mastodon automatically enables this filter. The setting is not visible in the standard web interface unless you enable the advanced web interface. Without the advanced interface, you have no way to toggle the filter off. Third-party clients also respect the local parameter in the Mastodon API, which defaults to true. If the client does not expose this parameter, you are stuck with local posts only.

Steps to Show Federated Hashtag Posts in the Mastodon Web Interface

The following method uses the advanced web interface to reveal the hidden toggle for each followed hashtag. This is the only built-in way to disable the local-only filter.

1. Enable the advanced web interface
   Go to Preferences > Appearance. Check the box labeled Enable advanced web interface. Click Save changes. The page reloads with a multi-column layout.
2. Open the hashtag column
   In the advanced interface, click the + icon on the left column panel. Select Hashtag from the list. Type the hashtag name without the # symbol and press Enter. A new column appears showing posts for that hashtag.
3. Toggle the local-only filter
   At the top of the hashtag column, you see a small icon that looks like a globe with a lock or a house icon. Click this icon. The icon changes to a globe without a lock. The column now shows federated posts from all instances.
4. Confirm the change
   Scroll through the column. You should see posts from remote instances indicated by their full instance name next to the username. If you still see only local posts, click the icon again to ensure it is in the unlocked globe state.

The toggle is per-column. Each hashtag you follow in the advanced interface retains its own local-only setting. The standard home feed still shows local-only hashtag posts unless you view them through the dedicated column.

Fixing Hashtag Follow for Third-Party Mastodon Clients

Third-party clients such as Tusky, Fedilab, or Moshidon often do not expose the local-only toggle in their user interface. You must adjust the API request manually or use the client’s filter settings.

1. Check the client’s timeline filter options
   Open the hashtag timeline view in your client. Look for a filter icon, gear icon, or dropdown menu labeled Local, Federated, or All. Switch it to Federated or All.
2. If no filter exists, use the Mastodon web interface
   Some clients do not support this toggle at all. In that case, use the web interface method described above. The setting is saved per hashtag on the server, so once you toggle it in the web interface, the client may respect the change after a refresh.
3. Use the Mastodon API directly
   Advanced users can construct a custom API request: GET /api/v1/timelines/tag/:hashtag?local=false. Use this in a tool like cURL or a custom script to fetch federated posts. This bypasses the client’s limitations entirely.

If the Hashtag Still Shows Only Local Posts After the Fix

Several edge cases can prevent federated posts from appearing even after you toggle the local-only filter off. Below are the most common scenarios and their fixes.

Hashtag is too new or too obscure

Mastodon only indexes posts that your instance has seen. If no remote instance has federated a post with that hashtag to your instance, the timeline remains empty or shows only local posts. Wait 24 to 48 hours for federation to propagate. You can also manually search for the hashtag using the search bar to force your instance to fetch remote posts.

Your instance blocks the remote server

If your instance administrator has silenced or suspended a remote server, posts from that server never appear in any timeline including hashtag follows. Check your instance’s domain blocks by visiting Preferences > Administration > Domain blocks if you are an admin. Regular users must ask their admin to review the block list.

Post visibility is set to unlisted or followers-only

Hashtag follow only shows public posts. Posts with Unlisted or Followers-only visibility do not appear in hashtag timelines at all, regardless of the local-only setting. This is by design to respect user privacy. No fix exists for this limitation.

Mastodon Hashtag Follow: Local vs Federated Timeline Comparison

Item	Local Only	Federated
Post source	Only users on your instance	Users on any federated instance
Default setting	Enabled	Disabled
Server load	Low	Higher due to federation traffic
Content moderation	Instance rules apply	Depends on remote instance rules
Toggle location	Advanced web interface column icon	Same icon (globe unlocked)
API parameter	local=true	local=false

The key difference is control versus reach. Local-only timelines give you a curated, safe view of a hashtag. Federated timelines give you the full global conversation but include content that may not follow your instance’s moderation policies. Choose based on your need for safety versus completeness.

Conclusion

The local-only default for hashtag follows is a deliberate privacy and moderation feature, not a bug. You can disable it by enabling the advanced web interface and toggling the globe icon on each hashtag column. For third-party clients, check for a federated filter option or use the API directly. If federated posts still do not appear, check that the hashtag has been federated to your instance, that remote servers are not blocked, and that posts are set to public visibility. For daily use, keep the advanced web interface enabled so you can switch between local and federated views per hashtag without losing your place.