diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/application.scss b/app/assets/stylesheets/application.scss
index 6092a416..cf30c640 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/application.scss
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/application.scss
@@ -793,3 +793,8 @@ ul.pagination {
   display: inline;
   line-height: 1;
 }
+
+.custom-emoji {
+  height: 1.25em;
+  vertical-align: middle;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
index 428100fd..d41e672d 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -92,4 +92,17 @@ def hub_admin?
   def newsmast_admin?
     current_user && policy(current_user).newsmast_admin?
   end
+
+  def render_custom_emojis(text)
+    emoji_map = MastodonEmoji.fetch_and_cache_emojis
+
+    pattern = /:([a-zA-Z0-9_+-]+):/
+    text.gsub(pattern) do |match|
+      if emoji_map[match]
+        image_tag emoji_map[match], alt: match, class: "custom-emoji"
+      else
+        match
+      end
+    end.html_safe
+  end
 end
diff --git a/app/services/contributor_search_service.rb b/app/services/contributor_search_service.rb
index 50383602..28595265 100644
--- a/app/services/contributor_search_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/contributor_search_service.rb
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ def find_saved_accounts_with_retry(accounts)
       {
         'id' => account.id.to_s,
         'username' => account.username,
-        'display_name' => account.display_name,
+        'display_name' => account.display_name.gsub(/:[^:\s]+:/, '').strip,
         'domain' => account.domain,
         'note' => account.note,
         'avatar_url' => account.avatar_url,
diff --git a/app/services/remote_account_verify_service.rb b/app/services/remote_account_verify_service.rb
index b8dd1753..c2b4134a 100644
--- a/app/services/remote_account_verify_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/remote_account_verify_service.rb
@@ -25,10 +25,14 @@ def verify_account_credentials
 
   def fetch_remote_account_id
     # Find account in local server
-    account_id = if acc = Account.find_by(username: @remote_account["username"], domain: @domain)
+    domain = @domain
+    if @domain == 'backend.newsmast.org'
+      domain = 'newsmast.social'
+    end
+    account_id = if acc = Account.find_by(username: @remote_account["username"], domain: domain)
       acc.id
     else
-      account_handler = "@#{@remote_account["username"]}@#{@domain}"
+      account_handler = "@#{@remote_account["username"]}@#{domain}"
       search_target_account_id(account_handler)
     end
     account_id
diff --git a/app/views/accounts/index.html.haml b/app/views/accounts/index.html.haml
index 249c5682..c18ff795 100644
--- a/app/views/accounts/index.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/accounts/index.html.haml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
                 %td
                   = check_box_tag "selected_accounts[]", account.id, false, class: 'select_account'
                 %td= account.username
-                %td= account.display_name
+                %td= render_custom_emojis(account.display_name)
                 %td= account.user ? account.user.email : "-"
                 %td= account.created_at.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
                 %td= account.domain ? account.domain : ENV['MASTODON_INSTANCE_URL']
diff --git a/app/views/accounts/show.html.haml b/app/views/accounts/show.html.haml
index 66ad2306..3276a64d 100644
--- a/app/views/accounts/show.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/accounts/show.html.haml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
           .col-sm-3.text-secondary.text-right
             Display name: 
           .col-sm-9.text-left
-            = @account.display_name.presence || '-'
+            = @account.display_name.presence ? render_custom_emojis(@account.display_name) : '-'
         .row.border-bottom.mb-4
           .col-sm-3.text-secondary.text-right
             Username:
diff --git a/app/views/collections/_form.html.haml b/app/views/collections/_form.html.haml
index 2b502a16..d230273f 100644
--- a/app/views/collections/_form.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/collections/_form.html.haml
@@ -26,9 +26,11 @@
                 .avatar-upload-container
                   .rounded-circle.border.d-inline-flex.align-items-center.justify-content-center{ style: "width: 90px; height: 90px; border: dotted; overflow: hidden;" }
                     - avatar_image_url = @collection.avatar_image.present? && @collection.avatar_image.respond_to?(:url) ? @collection.avatar_image.url : ''
+                    - margin_left = avatar_image_url.present? ? '0' : '16px'
 
-                    %img{ id: "currentAvatar", src: avatar_image_url, style: "display: #{avatar_image_url.present? ? 'block' : 'none'}; width: 100%; height: 100%; object-fit: cover; margin-left: 16px;" }
-                    %i.fa-solid.fa-image
+                    %img{ id: "currentAvatar", src: avatar_image_url, style: "display: #{avatar_image_url.present? ? 'block' : 'none'}; width: 100%; height: 100%; object-fit: cover; margin-left: #{margin_left};" }
+                    - if avatar_image_url.blank?
+                      %i.fa-solid.fa-image
                     = f.input :avatar_image, as: :file, label: false, input_html: { id: "customFileAvatar", class: "form-control-file upload-input", style: "display: none;", accept: "image/*", 'data-preview-id': "currentAvatar", 'data-aspect-ratio': "1" }
 
                 .avatar-image-upload
diff --git a/app/views/communities/_form_step1.html.haml b/app/views/communities/_form_step1.html.haml
index 364490eb..a5381642 100644
--- a/app/views/communities/_form_step1.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/communities/_form_step1.html.haml
@@ -155,8 +155,10 @@
                   .logo-upload-container
                     .rounded.border.d-inline-flex.align-items-center.justify-content-center{ style: "width: 300px; height: 150px; border: dotted; overflow: hidden;" }
                       - logo_image_url = @community_form.logo_image.present? && @community_form.logo_image.respond_to?(:url) ? @community_form.logo_image.url : ''
-                      %img{ id: "currentlogo", src: logo_image_url, alt: "Logo Preview", style: "display: #{logo_image_url.present? ? 'block' : 'none'}; width: 100%; height: 100%; object-fit: cover; margin-left: 16px;" }
-                      %i.fa-solid.fa-image
+                      - margin_left = logo_image_url.present? ? '0' : '16px'
+                      %img{ id: "currentlogo", src: logo_image_url, alt: "Logo Preview", style: "display: #{logo_image_url.present? ? 'block' : 'none'}; width: 100%; height: 100%; object-fit: cover; margin-left: #{margin_left};" }
+                      - if logo_image_url.blank?
+                        %i.fa-solid.fa-image
                       = f.input :logo_image, as: :file, label: false, input_html: { id: "customFilelogo", class: "form-control-file upload-input", style: "display: none;", accept: "image/*", 'data-preview-id': "currentlogo", 'data-aspect-ratio': "2.1" }
                   .logo-image-upload
                     %button.btn.btn-primary.mt-2{ onclick: "event.preventDefault(); document.getElementById('customFilelogo').click();" } Upload image
@@ -169,8 +171,10 @@
                 .avatar-upload-container
                   .rounded-circle.border.d-inline-flex.align-items-center.justify-content-center{ style: "width: 90px; height: 90px; border: dotted; overflow: hidden;" }
                     - avatar_image_url = @community_form.avatar_image.present? && @community_form.avatar_image.respond_to?(:url) ? @community_form.avatar_image.url : ''
-                    %img{ id: "currentAvatar", src: avatar_image_url, alt: "Avatar Preview", style: "display: #{avatar_image_url.present? ? 'block' : 'none'}; width: 100%; height: 100%; object-fit: cover; margin-left: 16px;" }
-                    %i.fa-solid.fa-image
+                    - margin_left = avatar_image_url.present? ? '0' : '16px'
+                    %img{ id: "currentAvatar", src: avatar_image_url, alt: "Avatar Preview", style: "display: #{avatar_image_url.present? ? 'block' : 'none'}; width: 100%; height: 100%; object-fit: cover; margin-left: #{margin_left};" }
+                    - if avatar_image_url.blank?
+                      %i.fa-solid.fa-image
                     = f.input :avatar_image, as: :file, label: false, input_html: { id: "customFileAvatar", class: "form-control-file upload-input", style: "display: none;", accept: "image/*", 'data-preview-id': "currentAvatar", 'data-aspect-ratio': "1" }
                 .avatar-image-upload
                   %button.btn.btn-primary.mt-2{ onclick: "event.preventDefault(); document.getElementById('customFileAvatar').click();" } Upload image
diff --git a/app/views/communities/_form_step3.html.haml b/app/views/communities/_form_step3.html.haml
index eb0eaa03..ba566e2d 100644
--- a/app/views/communities/_form_step3.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/communities/_form_step3.html.haml
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@
                         %td{ style: 'width: 10%;' }
                           %img{ alt: "", src: record.avatar_url, class: "rounded-circle mr-2", style: "width: 70px; height: 70px; border: 2px solid white;" }
                         %td{ style: 'width: 80%;' }
-                          = record.display_name
+                          = render_custom_emojis(record.display_name)
                           - domain = record&.domain.present? ? "https://#{record.domain}" : ENV.fetch('MASTODON_INSTANCE_URL', nil)
                           %br
                           %a{ href: "#{record.url}", target: "_blank" }= "@#{record.username}@#{record.domain || 'channel.org'}"
diff --git a/app/views/communities/follower_list.html.haml b/app/views/communities/follower_list.html.haml
index c64a3808..36677f4e 100644
--- a/app/views/communities/follower_list.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/communities/follower_list.html.haml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
                   %p.text-muted.small There's no follower.
             - @records.each do |account|
               %tr
-                %td= account&.display_name.present? ? account&.display_name : " - " 
+                %td= account&.display_name.present? ? render_custom_emojis(account.display_name) : " - " 
                 %td
                   - if account.present?
                     %span.copyable-text{title: "Click to copy", style: "cursor: pointer;", onclick: "copyToClipboard('#{account_url(account)}')"}= "@#{username(account)}@#{domain(account)}"
diff --git a/config/initializers/mastodon_emojis.rb b/config/initializers/mastodon_emojis.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..816da3f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/initializers/mastodon_emojis.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# config/initializers/mastodon_emojis.rb
+
+require 'net/http'
+require 'json'
+
+module MastodonEmoji
+  INSTANCE_URL = ENV.fetch("MASTODON_INSTANCE_URL", "https://channel.org")
+  CACHE_KEY = "mastodon_custom_emojis"
+  CACHE_EXPIRY = 24.hours
+
+  def self.fetch_and_cache_emojis
+    Rails.cache.fetch(CACHE_KEY, expires_in: CACHE_EXPIRY) do
+      url = URI("#{INSTANCE_URL}/api/v1/custom_emojis")
+      response = Net::HTTP.get(url)
+      JSON.parse(response).each_with_object({}) do |emoji, hash|
+        shortcode = ":#{emoji['shortcode']}:"
+        hash[shortcode] = emoji['url']
+      end
+    rescue => e
+      Rails.logger.error("Failed to fetch Mastodon emojis: #{e.message}")
+      {}
+    end
+  end
+end