diff --git a/app/controllers/accounts_controller.rb b/app/controllers/accounts_controller.rb
index 309cb65daa..31144fe053 100644
--- a/app/controllers/accounts_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/accounts_controller.rb
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ class AccountsController < ApplicationController
   end
 
   def default_statuses
-    @account.statuses.where(visibility: [:public, :unlisted])
+    @account.statuses.not_local_only.where(visibility: [:public, :unlisted])
   end
 
   def only_media_scope
diff --git a/app/models/status.rb b/app/models/status.rb
index 70cfdc1c7e..db3072571b 100644
--- a/app/models/status.rb
+++ b/app/models/status.rb
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #  account_id             :integer          not null
 #  application_id         :integer
 #  in_reply_to_account_id :integer
+#  local_only             :boolean
 #
 
 class Status < ApplicationRecord
@@ -74,6 +75,8 @@ class Status < ApplicationRecord
   scope :not_excluded_by_account, ->(account) { where.not(account_id: account.excluded_from_timeline_account_ids) }
   scope :not_domain_blocked_by_account, ->(account) { account.excluded_from_timeline_domains.blank? ? left_outer_joins(:account) : left_outer_joins(:account).where('accounts.domain IS NULL OR accounts.domain NOT IN (?)', account.excluded_from_timeline_domains) }
 
+  scope :not_local_only, -> { where(local_only: [false, nil]) }
+
   cache_associated :account, :application, :media_attachments, :tags, :stream_entry, mentions: :account, reblog: [:account, :application, :stream_entry, :tags, :media_attachments, mentions: :account], thread: :account
 
   delegate :domain, to: :account, prefix: true
@@ -138,6 +141,8 @@ class Status < ApplicationRecord
 
   around_create Mastodon::Snowflake::Callbacks
 
+  before_create :set_locality
+
   before_validation :prepare_contents, if: :local?
   before_validation :set_reblog
   before_validation :set_visibility
@@ -218,7 +223,7 @@ class Status < ApplicationRecord
       visibility = [:public, :unlisted]
 
       if account.nil?
-        where(visibility: visibility)
+        where(visibility: visibility).not_local_only
       elsif target_account.blocking?(account) # get rid of blocked peeps
         none
       elsif account.id == target_account.id # author can see own stuff
@@ -257,7 +262,7 @@ class Status < ApplicationRecord
     end
 
     def filter_timeline_default(query)
-      query.excluding_silenced_accounts
+      query.not_local_only.excluding_silenced_accounts
     end
 
     def account_silencing_filter(account)
@@ -269,9 +274,13 @@ class Status < ApplicationRecord
     end
   end
 
-  def local_only?
+  def marked_local_only?
     # match both with and without U+FE0F (the emoji variation selector)
-    /👁\ufe0f?\z/.match?(content)
+    /#{local_only_emoji}\ufe0f?\z/.match?(content)
+  end
+
+  def local_only_emoji
+    '👁'
   end
 
   private
@@ -299,6 +308,12 @@ class Status < ApplicationRecord
     self.sensitive = sensitive || spoiler_text.present?
   end
 
+  def set_locality
+    if account.domain.nil? && !attribute_changed?(:local_only)
+      self.local_only = marked_local_only?
+    end
+  end
+
   def set_conversation
     self.reply = !(in_reply_to_id.nil? && thread.nil?) unless reply
 
diff --git a/app/services/post_status_service.rb b/app/services/post_status_service.rb
index 59531a76ce..6b6a37676a 100644
--- a/app/services/post_status_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/post_status_service.rb
@@ -40,8 +40,7 @@ class PostStatusService < BaseService
     LinkCrawlWorker.perform_async(status.id) unless status.spoiler_text?
     DistributionWorker.perform_async(status.id)
 
-    # match both with and without U+FE0F (the emoji variation selector)
-    unless /👁\ufe0f?\z/.match?(status.content)
+    unless status.local_only?
       Pubsubhubbub::DistributionWorker.perform_async(status.stream_entry.id)
       ActivityPub::DistributionWorker.perform_async(status.id)
       ActivityPub::ReplyDistributionWorker.perform_async(status.id) if status.reply? && status.thread.account.local?
diff --git a/app/services/reblog_service.rb b/app/services/reblog_service.rb
index 52e3ba0e05..8d8b15a413 100644
--- a/app/services/reblog_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/reblog_service.rb
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ class ReblogService < BaseService
 
     DistributionWorker.perform_async(reblog.id)
 
-    unless /👁$/.match?(reblogged_status.content)
+    unless reblogged_status.local_only?
       Pubsubhubbub::DistributionWorker.perform_async(reblog.stream_entry.id)
       ActivityPub::DistributionWorker.perform_async(reblog.id)
     end
diff --git a/db/migrate/20171210213213_add_local_only_flag_to_statuses.rb b/db/migrate/20171210213213_add_local_only_flag_to_statuses.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..af1e29d6a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20171210213213_add_local_only_flag_to_statuses.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+class AddLocalOnlyFlagToStatuses < ActiveRecord::Migration[5.1]
+  def change
+    add_column :statuses, :local_only, :boolean
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
index cdb76aa269..9410cdab59 100644
--- a/db/schema.rb
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -418,6 +418,7 @@ ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20171212195226) do
     t.bigint "account_id", null: false
     t.bigint "application_id"
     t.bigint "in_reply_to_account_id"
+    t.boolean "local_only"
     t.index ["account_id", "id"], name: "index_statuses_on_account_id_id"
     t.index ["conversation_id"], name: "index_statuses_on_conversation_id"
     t.index ["in_reply_to_id"], name: "index_statuses_on_in_reply_to_id"
diff --git a/lib/tasks/glitchsoc.rake b/lib/tasks/glitchsoc.rake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..79e8646484
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tasks/glitchsoc.rake
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+namespace :glitchsoc do
+  desc 'Backfill local-only flag on statuses table'
+  task backfill_local_only: :environment do
+    Status.local.where(local_only: nil).find_each do |st|
+      ActiveRecord::Base.logger.silence { st.update_attribute(:local_only, st.marked_local_only?) }
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/models/status_spec.rb b/spec/models/status_spec.rb
index c6701018e5..1f5a03877f 100644
--- a/spec/models/status_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/status_spec.rb
@@ -197,6 +197,43 @@ RSpec.describe Status, type: :model do
     end
   end
 
+  describe 'on create' do
+    let(:local_account) { Fabricate(:account, username: 'local', domain: nil) }
+    let(:remote_account) { Fabricate(:account, username: 'remote', domain: 'example.com') }
+
+    subject { Status.new }
+
+    describe 'on a status that ends with the local-only emoji' do
+      before do
+        subject.text = 'A toot ' + subject.local_only_emoji
+      end
+
+      context 'if the status originates from this instance' do
+        before do
+          subject.account = local_account
+        end
+
+        it 'is marked local-only' do
+          subject.save!
+
+          expect(subject).to be_local_only
+        end
+      end
+
+      context 'if the status is remote' do
+        before do
+          subject.account = remote_account
+        end
+
+        it 'is not marked local-only' do
+          subject.save!
+
+          expect(subject).to_not be_local_only
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
   describe '.mutes_map' do
     let(:status)  { Fabricate(:status) }
     let(:account) { Fabricate(:account) }
@@ -549,6 +586,32 @@ RSpec.describe Status, type: :model do
         end
       end
     end
+
+    context 'with local-only statuses' do
+      let(:status) { Fabricate(:status, local_only: true) }
+
+      subject { Status.as_public_timeline(viewer) }
+
+      context 'without a viewer' do
+        let(:viewer) { nil }
+
+        it 'excludes local-only statuses' do
+          expect(subject).to_not include(status)
+        end
+      end
+
+      context 'with a viewer' do
+        let(:viewer) { Fabricate(:account, username: 'viewer') }
+
+        it 'includes local-only statuses' do
+          expect(subject).to include(status)
+        end
+      end
+
+      # TODO: What happens if the viewer is remote?
+      # Can the viewer be remote?
+      # What prevents the viewer from being remote?
+    end
   end
 
   describe '.as_tag_timeline' do
@@ -570,6 +633,27 @@ RSpec.describe Status, type: :model do
       results = Status.as_tag_timeline(tag)
       expect(results).to include(status)
     end
+
+    context 'on a local-only status' do
+      let(:tag) { Fabricate(:tag) }
+      let(:status) { Fabricate(:status, local_only: true, tags: [tag]) }
+
+      context 'without a viewer' do
+        let(:viewer) { nil }
+
+        it 'filters the local-only status out of the result set' do
+          expect(Status.as_tag_timeline(tag, viewer)).not_to include(status)
+        end
+      end
+
+      context 'with a viewer' do
+        let(:viewer) { Fabricate(:account, username: 'viewer', domain: nil) }
+
+        it 'keeps the local-only status in the result set' do
+          expect(Status.as_tag_timeline(tag, viewer)).to include(status)
+        end
+      end
+    end
   end
 
   describe '.permitted_for' do