diff --git a/app/services/activitypub/account_backfill_service.rb b/app/services/activitypub/account_backfill_service.rb
index e16de2d5b7..8be7e9ebcb 100644
--- a/app/services/activitypub/account_backfill_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/activitypub/account_backfill_service.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 class ActivityPub::AccountBackfillService < BaseService
   include JsonLdHelper
 
-  ENABLED = (ENV['ACCOUNT_BACKFILL_ENABLED'] || true).to_bool
+  ENABLED = ENV['ACCOUNT_BACKFILL_ENABLED'].nil? || ENV['ACCOUNT_BACKFILL_ENABLED'] == 'true'
   MAX_STATUSES = (ENV['ACCOUNT_BACKFILL_MAX_STATUSES'] || 500).to_i
   MAX_PAGES = (ENV['ACCOUNT_BACKFILL_MAX_PAGES'] || 100).to_i
 
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ class ActivityPub::AccountBackfillService < BaseService
     return if @account.nil? || @account.outbox_url.nil?
 
     @items, = collection_items(@account.outbox_url, max_items: MAX_STATUSES, max_pages: MAX_PAGES, on_behalf_of: on_behalf_of)
+    @items = filter_items(@items)
     return if @items.nil?
 
     on_behalf_of_id = on_behalf_of&.id
@@ -30,4 +31,23 @@ class ActivityPub::AccountBackfillService < BaseService
 
     @items
   end
+
+  private
+
+  # Reject any non-public statuses.
+  # Since our request may have been signed on behalf of the follower,
+  # we may have received followers-only statuses.
+  #
+  # Formally, a followers-only status is addressed to the account's followers collection.
+  # We were not in that collection at the time that the post was made,
+  # so followers-only statuses fetched by backfilling are not addressed to us.
+  # Public and unlisted statuses are send to the activitystreams "Public" entity.
+  # We are part of the public, so those posts *are* addressed to us.
+  #
+  # @param items [Array<Hash>]
+  # @return [Array<Hash>]
+  def filter_items(items)
+    allowed = [:public, :unlisted]
+    items.filter { |item| item.is_a?(String) || allowed.include?(ActivityPub::Parser::StatusParser.new(item).visibility) }
+  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/services/activitypub/account_backfill_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/activitypub/account_backfill_service_spec.rb
index d79f57be78..ec98b960d3 100644
--- a/spec/services/activitypub/account_backfill_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/activitypub/account_backfill_service_spec.rb
@@ -5,11 +5,16 @@ require 'rails_helper'
 RSpec.describe ActivityPub::AccountBackfillService do
   subject { described_class.new }
 
+  before do
+    stub_const('ActivityPub::AccountBackfillService::ENABLED', true)
+  end
+
   let!(:account) { Fabricate(:account, domain: 'other.com', outbox_url: 'http://other.com/alice/outbox') }
 
   let!(:outbox) do
     {
       '@context': 'https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams',
+
       id: 'http://other.com/alice/outbox',
       type: 'OrderedCollection',
       first: 'http://other.com/alice/outbox?page=true',
@@ -21,6 +26,8 @@ RSpec.describe ActivityPub::AccountBackfillService do
       {
         '@context': 'https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams',
         id: 'https://other.com/alice/1234',
+        to: ['https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public'],
+        cc: ['https://other.com/alice/followers'],
         type: 'Note',
         content: 'Lorem ipsum',
         attributedTo: 'http://other.com/alice',
@@ -51,5 +58,55 @@ RSpec.describe ActivityPub::AccountBackfillService do
       expect(got_items[1]).to eq(items[1])
       expect(FetchReplyWorker).to have_received(:push_bulk).with([items[0].stringify_keys, items[1]])
     end
+
+    context 'with followers-only and private statuses' do
+      let!(:items) do
+        [
+          {
+            '@context': 'https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams',
+            id: 'https://other.com/alice/public',
+            type: 'Note',
+            to: ['https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public'],
+            cc: ['https://other.com/alice/followers'],
+            content: 'Lorem ipsum',
+            attributedTo: 'http://other.com/alice',
+          },
+          {
+            '@context': 'https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams',
+            id: 'https://other.com/alice/unlisted',
+            to: ['https://other.com/alice/followers'],
+            cc: ['https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public'],
+            type: 'Note',
+            content: 'Lorem ipsum',
+            attributedTo: 'http://other.com/alice',
+          },
+          {
+            '@context': 'https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams',
+            id: 'https://other.com/alice/followers-only',
+            to: ['https://other.com/alice/followers'],
+            type: 'Note',
+            content: 'Lorem ipsum',
+            attributedTo: 'http://other.com/alice',
+          },
+          {
+            '@context': 'https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams',
+            id: 'https://other.com/alice/dm',
+            to: ['https://other.com/alice/followers'],
+            type: 'Note',
+            content: 'Lorem ipsum',
+            attributedTo: 'http://other.com/alice',
+          },
+        ]
+      end
+
+      it 'only processes public and unlisted statuses' do
+        allow(FetchReplyWorker).to receive(:push_bulk)
+        got_items = subject.call(account)
+        expect(got_items.length).to eq(2)
+        expect(got_items[0].deep_symbolize_keys).to eq(items[0])
+        expect(got_items[1].deep_symbolize_keys).to eq(items[1])
+        expect(FetchReplyWorker).to have_received(:push_bulk).with([items[0].stringify_keys, items[1].stringify_keys])
+      end
+    end
   end
 end