diff --git a/app/activitypub/util.py b/app/activitypub/util.py
index 94f0f778..138ecbd6 100644
--- a/app/activitypub/util.py
+++ b/app/activitypub/util.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from datetime import timedelta
 from random import randint
 from typing import Union, Tuple
 from flask import current_app, request, g, url_for
-from sqlalchemy import text
+from sqlalchemy import text, func
 from app import db, cache, constants, celery
 from app.models import User, Post, Community, BannedInstances, File, PostReply, AllowedInstances, Instance, utcnow, \
     PostVote, PostReplyVote, ActivityPubLog, Notification, Site, CommunityMember
@@ -189,10 +189,10 @@ def find_actor_or_create(actor: str) -> Union[User, Community, None]:
 
     # Initially, check if the user exists in the local DB already
     if current_app.config['SERVER_NAME'] + '/c/' in actor:
-        return Community.query.filter(Community.ap_profile_id.ilike(actor)).first()  # finds communities formatted like https://localhost/c/*
+        return Community.query.filter(func.lower(Community.ap_profile_id) == func.lower(actor)).first()  # finds communities formatted like https://localhost/c/*
 
     if current_app.config['SERVER_NAME'] + '/u/' in actor:
-        user = User.query.filter(User.user_name.ilike(actor.split('/')[-1])).filter_by(ap_id=None, banned=False).first()  # finds local users
+        user = User.query.filter(func.lower(User.user_name) == func.lower(actor.split('/')[-1])).filter_by(ap_id=None, banned=False).first()  # finds local users
         if user is None:
             return None
     elif actor.startswith('https://'):
@@ -203,11 +203,11 @@ def find_actor_or_create(actor: str) -> Union[User, Community, None]:
         else:
             if instance_blocked(server):
                 return None
-        user = User.query.filter(User.ap_profile_id.ilike(actor)).first()  # finds users formatted like https://kbin.social/u/tables
+        user = User.query.filter(func.lower(User.ap_profile_id) == func.lower(actor)).first()  # finds users formatted like https://kbin.social/u/tables
         if (user and user.banned) or (user and user.deleted) :
             return None
         if user is None:
-            user = Community.query.filter(Community.ap_profile_id.ilike(actor)).first()
+            user = Community.query.filter(func.lower(Community.ap_profile_id) == func.lower(actor)).first()
 
     if user is not None:
         if not user.is_local() and user.ap_fetched_at < utcnow() - timedelta(days=7):
diff --git a/app/auth/forms.py b/app/auth/forms.py
index eeddf077..fce3f38f 100644
--- a/app/auth/forms.py
+++ b/app/auth/forms.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from wtforms import StringField, PasswordField, SubmitField, HiddenField, Boolea
 from wtforms.validators import ValidationError, DataRequired, Email, EqualTo, Length
 from flask_babel import _, lazy_gettext as _l
 from app.models import User, Community
+from sqlalchemy import func
 
 
 class LoginForm(FlaskForm):
@@ -26,18 +27,18 @@ class RegistrationForm(FlaskForm):
     submit = SubmitField(_l('Register'))
 
     def validate_real_email(self, email):
-        user = User.query.filter(User.email.ilike(email.data.strip())).first()
+        user = User.query.filter(func.lower(User.email) == func.lower(email.data.strip())).first()
         if user is not None:
             raise ValidationError(_l('An account with this email address already exists.'))
 
     def validate_user_name(self, user_name):
-        user = User.query.filter(User.user_name.ilike(user_name.data.strip())).filter_by(ap_id=None).first()
+        user = User.query.filter(func.lower(User.user_name) == func.lower(user_name.data.strip())).filter_by(ap_id=None).first()
         if user is not None:
             if user.deleted:
                 raise ValidationError(_l('This username was used in the past and cannot be reused.'))
             else:
                 raise ValidationError(_l('An account with this user name already exists.'))
-        community = Community.query.filter(Community.name.ilike(user_name.data.strip())).first()
+        community = Community.query.filter(func.lower(Community.name) == func.lower(user_name.data.strip())).first()
         if community is not None:
             raise ValidationError(_l('A community with this name exists so it cannot be used for a user.'))
         
diff --git a/app/community/util.py b/app/community/util.py
index 9ba37184..36b423f3 100644
--- a/app/community/util.py
+++ b/app/community/util.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ from app.models import Community, File, BannedInstances, PostReply, PostVote, Po
     Instance, Notification, User
 from app.utils import get_request, gibberish, markdown_to_html, domain_from_url, allowlist_html, \
     html_to_markdown, is_image_url, ensure_directory_exists, inbox_domain, post_ranking, shorten_string, parse_page
-from sqlalchemy import desc, text
+from sqlalchemy import func
 import os
 
 
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ def retrieve_mods_and_backfill(community_id: int):
 
 
 def community_url_exists(url) -> bool:
-    community = Community.query.filter(Community.ap_profile_id.ilike(url)).first()
+    community = Community.query.filter(func.lower(Community.ap_profile_id) == func.lower(url)).first()
     return community is not None
 
 
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ def actor_to_community(actor) -> Community:
     if '@' in actor:
         community = Community.query.filter_by(banned=False, ap_id=actor).first()
     else:
-        community = Community.query.filter(Community.name.ilike(actor)).filter_by(banned=False, ap_id=None).first()
+        community = Community.query.filter(func.lower(Community.name) == func.lower(actor)).filter_by(banned=False, ap_id=None).first()
     return community