diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index c3f2d2500..89219d85a 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -78,7 +78,6 @@ class User < ApplicationRecord
   validates_inclusion_of :per_page, in: (1..PostSets::Post::MAX_PER_PAGE)
   validates_confirmation_of :password
   validates_presence_of :comment_threshold
-  validate :validate_sock_puppets, :on => :create, :if => -> { Danbooru.config.enable_sock_puppet_validation? }
   before_validation :normalize_blacklisted_tags
   before_create :promote_to_admin_if_first_user
   before_create :customize_new_user
@@ -623,14 +622,6 @@ class User < ApplicationRecord
     end
   end
 
-  concerning :SockPuppetMethods do
-    def validate_sock_puppets
-      if User.where(last_ip_addr: CurrentUser.ip_addr).where("created_at > ?", 1.day.ago).exists?
-        errors.add(:last_ip_addr, "was used recently for another account and cannot be reused for another day")
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
   include BanMethods
   include PasswordMethods
   include AuthenticationMethods
diff --git a/app/policies/user_policy.rb b/app/policies/user_policy.rb
index 057141ab1..e9c0f7915 100644
--- a/app/policies/user_policy.rb
+++ b/app/policies/user_policy.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 class UserPolicy < ApplicationPolicy
   def create?
-    true
+    !sockpuppet?
   end
 
   def update?
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ class UserPolicy < ApplicationPolicy
     user.is_admin? || record.id == user.id || !record.enable_private_favorites?
   end
 
+  def sockpuppet?
+    User.where(last_ip_addr: request.remote_ip).where("created_at > ?", 1.day.ago).exists?
+  end
+
   def permitted_attributes_for_create
     [:name, :password, :password_confirmation, { email_address_attributes: [:address] }]
   end
diff --git a/config/danbooru_default_config.rb b/config/danbooru_default_config.rb
index 09edcebe2..894532adb 100644
--- a/config/danbooru_default_config.rb
+++ b/config/danbooru_default_config.rb
@@ -443,11 +443,6 @@ module Danbooru
       false
     end
 
-    # disable this for tests
-    def enable_sock_puppet_validation?
-      true
-    end
-
     # Enables recording of popular searches, missed searches, and post view
     # counts. Requires Reportbooru to be configured and running - see below.
     def enable_post_search_counts
diff --git a/test/functional/users_controller_test.rb b/test/functional/users_controller_test.rb
index 67a782d7e..a7adcaffc 100644
--- a/test/functional/users_controller_test.rb
+++ b/test/functional/users_controller_test.rb
@@ -170,14 +170,11 @@ class UsersControllerTest < ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest
       end
 
       context "with sockpuppet validation enabled" do
-        setup do
-          Danbooru.config.unstub(:enable_sock_puppet_validation?)
-          @user.update(last_ip_addr: "127.0.0.1")
-        end
-
         should "not allow registering multiple accounts with the same IP" do
           assert_difference("User.count", 0) do
+            @user.update(last_ip_addr: "127.0.0.1")
             post users_path, params: {:user => {:name => "dupe", :password => "xxxxx1", :password_confirmation => "xxxxx1"}}
+            assert_response 403
           end
         end
       end
diff --git a/test/test_helper.rb b/test/test_helper.rb
index bdc746fbf..6fafbaa57 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.rb
+++ b/test/test_helper.rb
@@ -69,7 +69,6 @@ class ActiveSupport::TestCase
     mock_popular_search_service!
     mock_missed_search_service!
     WebMock.allow_net_connect!
-    Danbooru.config.stubs(:enable_sock_puppet_validation?).returns(false)
 
     storage_manager = StorageManager::Local.new(base_dir: "#{Rails.root}/public/data/test")
     Danbooru.config.stubs(:storage_manager).returns(storage_manager)
@@ -114,7 +113,6 @@ class ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest
   def setup
     super
     Socket.stubs(:gethostname).returns("www.example.com")
-    Danbooru.config.stubs(:enable_sock_puppet_validation?).returns(false)
 
     ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest.register_encoder :xml, response_parser: ->(body) { Nokogiri.XML(body) }
   end
diff --git a/test/unit/user_test.rb b/test/unit/user_test.rb
index 68210932b..4ac415fe3 100644
--- a/test/unit/user_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/user_test.rb
@@ -231,21 +231,6 @@ class UserTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
       end
     end
 
-    context "that might be a sock puppet" do
-      setup do
-        @user = FactoryBot.create(:user, last_ip_addr: "127.0.0.2")
-        Danbooru.config.unstub(:enable_sock_puppet_validation?)
-      end
-
-      should "not validate" do
-        CurrentUser.scoped(nil, "127.0.0.2") do
-          @user = FactoryBot.build(:user)
-          @user.save
-          assert_equal(["Last ip addr was used recently for another account and cannot be reused for another day"], @user.errors.full_messages)
-        end
-      end
-    end
-
     context "when searched by name" do
       should "match wildcards" do
         user1 = FactoryBot.create(:user, :name => "foo")