diff --git a/crates/http/src/reqwest.rs b/crates/http/src/reqwest.rs
index b75d7fb07..561fb100f 100644
--- a/crates/http/src/reqwest.rs
+++ b/crates/http/src/reqwest.rs
@@ -98,7 +98,6 @@ pub fn client() -> reqwest::Client {
         .user_agent(USER_AGENT)
         .timeout(Duration::from_secs(60))
         .connect_timeout(Duration::from_secs(30))
-        .read_timeout(Duration::from_secs(30))
         .build()
         .expect("failed to create HTTP client")
 }
diff --git a/crates/matrix-synapse/src/lib.rs b/crates/matrix-synapse/src/lib.rs
index b551c912d..1c9e842f8 100644
--- a/crates/matrix-synapse/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/matrix-synapse/src/lib.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
 // Please see LICENSE in the repository root for full details.
 
-use std::collections::HashSet;
+use std::{collections::HashSet, time::Duration};
 
 use anyhow::{Context, bail};
 use error::SynapseResponseExt;
@@ -476,6 +476,8 @@ impl HomeserverConnection for SynapseConnection {
         let response = self
             .post(&format!("_synapse/admin/v1/deactivate/{mxid}"))
             .json(&SynapseDeactivateUserRequest { erase })
+            // Deactivation can take a while, so we set a longer timeout
+            .timeout(Duration::from_secs(60 * 5))
             .send_traced()
             .await
             .context("Failed to deactivate user in Synapse")?;