We’ve rolled out an update that makes sharing content to the fediverse via ActivityPub even better—especially when it comes to images in comments. Now, when you include an HTML <img> tag that points to a file in your WordPress media library, that image is bundled as a proper attachment in the ActivityStreams payload. This means your followers on other platforms will see both your comment and its image, making conversations more vivid and engaging.

To protect your privacy and security, only images hosted in your own WordPress media library are supported. Images from external sources are intentionally skipped.

Smoother Following, Better Interactions

If you’ve turned on the “Following User Interface” feature in the advanced settings, you’ll see a few nice improvements. The followers list now shows whether you’re already following someone—and if not, you can follow them back with just one click.

We’ve also made it easier to follow people from other sites. When you click “Follow” on someone else’s blog, you’ll now be taken to your own site to complete it. It keeps things simple and familiar, even when you start following someone from another site.

Better Support for Multibyte Text

Finally, we’ve improved how multibyte characters (like those in Greek and other non-Latin scripts) are handled when generating post summaries for the fediverse. We’ve replaced byte-based string functions with multibyte-safe alternatives and reordered text processing steps to avoid errors.

Full Changelog

Added

• Add image attachment support to federated comments – HTML images in comment content now include proper ActivityStreams attachment fields.
• Link to the following internal dialog for remote interactions, if the feature is enabled.
• The followers list now shows follow status and allows quick follow-back actions.
• Trigger Actor updates on (un)setting a post as sticky.
• You can now use OrderedCollections as starter packs — just drop in the output from a Follower or Following endpoint.

Changed

• Ensure that tests run in production-like conditions, avoiding interference from local development tools.
• Moved HTTP request signing to a filter instead of calling it directly.

Fixed

• Allow non-administrator users to use Follow Me and Followers blocks.
• Correct linking from followers to the following list.
• Fix avatar rendering for followers with missing icon property.
• Fix multibyte character corruption in post summaries, preventing Greek and other non-ASCII text from being garbled during text processing.
• Informational Fediverse blocks are no longer rendered when posts get added to the Outbox.

Downloads

• WordPress.org: activitypub.7.2.0.zip
• GitHub: tag/7.2.0

Thank you!

Huge thanks to everyone who shared code, gave feedback, tested, or simply cheered us on! Together, we’re building a more connected fediverse, one release at a time. ️

We’ve just released version 7.2.0, give it a spin and let us know what you think!