diff --git a/app/Http/Controllers/AuthorizeInteractionController.php b/app/Http/Controllers/AuthorizeInteractionController.php
index b0b1d40a8..c5b81cb08 100644
--- a/app/Http/Controllers/AuthorizeInteractionController.php
+++ b/app/Http/Controllers/AuthorizeInteractionController.php
@@ -20,7 +20,13 @@ class AuthorizeInteractionController extends Controller
         abort_unless($uri, 404);
 
         if (! $request->user()) {
-            return redirect('/login?next='.urlencode($uri));
+            // Store the current Pixelfed URL so Laravel's redirect()->intended()
+            // returns here after login. The `next` query param was never
+            // consumed by the login flow, so the remote-follow interaction was
+            // lost after authenticating.
+            $request->session()->put('url.intended', $request->fullUrl());
+
+            return redirect('/login');
         }
 
         $status = Helpers::statusFetch($uri);
diff --git a/tests/Feature/Federation/AuthorizeInteractionRedirectTest.php b/tests/Feature/Federation/AuthorizeInteractionRedirectTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..00ddfa7cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Feature/Federation/AuthorizeInteractionRedirectTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+<?php
+
+use App\Models\User;
+use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\LazilyRefreshDatabase;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cache;
+
+uses(LazilyRefreshDatabase::class);
+
+/*
+|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+| /authorize_interaction unauthenticated redirect
+|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+|
+| A guest hitting the remote-follow endpoint must be sent to /login with the
+| intended URL stored in session, so login returns them to the interaction.
+| The old `?next=` param was never consumed and the flow was lost.
+|
+*/
+
+beforeEach(function () {
+    config(['federation.activitypub.enabled' => true]);
+    // validateUrl resolves the host to a public IP; pre-seed so it passes
+    // without a real DNS lookup.
+    Cache::put('helpers:url:public-ips:'.hash('xxh128', 'remote.example'), ['203.0.113.70'], 3600);
+});
+
+it('redirects a guest to /login and stores the intended interaction url', function () {
+    $uri = 'https://remote.example/users/alice';
+    $target = '/authorize_interaction?'.http_build_query(['uri' => $uri]);
+
+    $response = $this->get($target);
+
+    $response->assertRedirect('/login');
+    // Laravel's intended-redirect key holds the full authorize_interaction URL.
+    expect(session('url.intended'))->toContain('/authorize_interaction');
+    expect(session('url.intended'))->toContain('uri=');
+});
+
+it('redirects to plain /login without the unused next query param', function () {
+    $uri = 'https://remote.example/users/alice';
+    $target = '/authorize_interaction?'.http_build_query(['uri' => $uri]);
+
+    $location = $this->get($target)->headers->get('Location');
+
+    // The old ?next= param was never consumed; the redirect target is /login
+    // and the intended URL lives in the session instead.
+    expect($location)->toEndWith('/login');
+    expect($location)->not->toContain('next=');
+});