diff --git a/internal/db/pg/pg.go b/internal/db/pg/pg.go
index 5c6720a..d4f8d10 100644
--- a/internal/db/pg/pg.go
+++ b/internal/db/pg/pg.go
@@ -464,10 +464,18 @@ func (ps *postgresService) GetFollowersByAccountID(accountID string, followers *
 	q := ps.conn.Model(followers)
 
 	if localOnly {
+		// for local accounts let's get where domain is null OR where domain is an empty string, just to be safe
+		whereGroup := func(q *pg.Query) (*pg.Query, error) {
+			q = q.
+			WhereOr("? IS NULL", pg.Ident("a.domain")).
+			WhereOr("a.domain = ?", "")
+			return q, nil
+		}
+
 		q = q.ColumnExpr("follow.*").
 			Join("JOIN accounts AS a ON follow.account_id = TEXT(a.id)").
 			Where("follow.target_account_id = ?", accountID).
-			Where("? IS NULL", pg.Ident("a.domain"))
+			WhereGroup(whereGroup)
 	} else {
 		q = q.Where("target_account_id = ?", accountID)
 	}