diff --git a/bookwyrm/migrations/0201_alter_hashtag_name_alter_user_localname.py b/bookwyrm/migrations/0201_alter_hashtag_name_alter_user_localname.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4fe41ec35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bookwyrm/migrations/0201_alter_hashtag_name_alter_user_localname.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Generated by Django 4.2.11 on 2024-04-01 21:09
+
+import bookwyrm.models.fields
+from django.db import migrations, models
+from django.contrib.postgres.operations import CreateCollation
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ("bookwyrm", "0200_alter_user_preferred_timezone"),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        CreateCollation(
+            "case_insensitive",
+            provider="icu",
+            locale="und-u-ks-level2",
+            deterministic=False,
+        ),
+        migrations.AlterField(
+            model_name="hashtag",
+            name="name",
+            field=bookwyrm.models.fields.CharField(
+                db_collation="case_insensitive", max_length=256
+            ),
+        ),
+        migrations.AlterField(
+            model_name="user",
+            name="localname",
+            field=models.CharField(
+                db_collation="case_insensitive",
+                max_length=255,
+                null=True,
+                unique=True,
+                validators=[bookwyrm.models.fields.validate_localname],
+            ),
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/bookwyrm/models/hashtag.py b/bookwyrm/models/hashtag.py
index 7894a3528..5126f012d 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/models/hashtag.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/models/hashtag.py
@@ -2,18 +2,19 @@
 from bookwyrm import activitypub
 from .activitypub_mixin import ActivitypubMixin
 from .base_model import BookWyrmModel
-from .fields import CICharField
+from .fields import CharField
 
 
 class Hashtag(ActivitypubMixin, BookWyrmModel):
     "a hashtag which can be used in statuses"
 
-    name = CICharField(
+    name = CharField(
         max_length=256,
         blank=False,
         null=False,
         activitypub_field="name",
         deduplication_field=True,
+        db_collation="case_insensitive",
     )
 
     name_field = "name"
diff --git a/bookwyrm/models/user.py b/bookwyrm/models/user.py
index 8c131e702..9d00f5dfd 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/models/user.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/models/user.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
 from django.apps import apps
 from django.contrib.auth.models import AbstractUser
-from django.contrib.postgres.fields import ArrayField, CICharField
+from django.contrib.postgres.fields import ArrayField as DjangoArrayField
 from django.core.exceptions import PermissionDenied, ObjectDoesNotExist
 from django.dispatch import receiver
 from django.db import models, transaction, IntegrityError
@@ -82,11 +82,12 @@ class User(OrderedCollectionPageMixin, AbstractUser):
     summary = fields.HtmlField(null=True, blank=True)
     local = models.BooleanField(default=False)
     bookwyrm_user = fields.BooleanField(default=True)
-    localname = CICharField(
+    localname = models.CharField(
         max_length=255,
         null=True,
         unique=True,
         validators=[fields.validate_localname],
+        db_collation="case_insensitive",
     )
     # name is your display name, which you can change at will
     name = fields.CharField(max_length=100, null=True, blank=True)
@@ -163,7 +164,7 @@ class User(OrderedCollectionPageMixin, AbstractUser):
     show_guided_tour = models.BooleanField(default=True)
 
     # feed options
-    feed_status_types = ArrayField(
+    feed_status_types = DjangoArrayField(
         models.CharField(max_length=10, blank=False, choices=FeedFilterChoices),
         size=8,
         default=get_feed_filter_choices,