Add Follower Visibility Controls for Proxy Profile (Follower/Following Privacy Settings) #2051
Description
What
Introduce visibility options for the follower and following lists of proxy actor profiles (such as blog-level or group-level accounts).
Suggested settings:
Private: Hide followers/following lists entirely
Local Only: Only show followers from the same instance or server
Public: Default — show all followers and following accounts
Why
Currently, the proxy profiles (e.g., blog actors, group actors) expose their entire list of followers/following to any remote instance. This may not always be desirable, especially for:
Privacy-conscious communities
Closed groups or forums using ActivityPub
Federated blogging platforms with high follower count
Adding visibility settings brings more control and aligns with the expectations from other fediverse platforms (e.g., Mastodon allows hiding followers/following).
How
A simple dropdown or toggle group in the plugin settings could manage this per actor:
Follower/Following List Visibility:
[ ] Private
[ ] Local (same domain only)
[✓] Public (default)
The plugin can then control the exposure of followers and following collection endpoints accordingly:
Return 403 or empty collection for unauthorized requests
Filter by domain origin for "Local Only"