diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2311.section.md b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2311.section.md
index b1152b0bad23..7a4bdd7de600 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2311.section.md
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2311.section.md
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@
 
 - `fileSystems.<name>.autoResize` now uses `systemd-growfs` to resize the file system online in stage 2. This means that `f2fs` and `ext2` can no longer be auto resized, while `xfs` and `btrfs` now can be.
 
+- `services.lemmy.settings.federation` was removed in 0.17.0 and no longer has any effect. To enable federation, the hostname must be set in the configuration file and then federation must be enabled in the admin web UI. See the [release notes](https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/blob/c32585b03429f0f76d1e4ff738786321a0a9df98/RELEASES.md#upgrade-instructions) for more details.
+
 ## Other Notable Changes {#sec-release-23.11-notable-changes}
 
 - The Cinnamon module now enables XDG desktop integration by default. If you are experiencing collisions related to xdg-desktop-portal-gtk you can safely remove `xdg.portal.extraPortals = [ pkgs.xdg-desktop-portal-gtk ];` from your NixOS configuration.
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/web-apps/lemmy.nix b/nixos/modules/services/web-apps/lemmy.nix
index 844855d8286c..1580716b1c4e 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/web-apps/lemmy.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/web-apps/lemmy.nix
@@ -62,10 +62,6 @@ in
           description = lib.mdDoc "Port where lemmy should listen for incoming requests.";
         };
 
-        options.federation = {
-          enabled = (mkEnableOption (lib.mdDoc "activitypub federation")) // { visible = false; };
-        };
-
         options.captcha = {
           enabled = mkOption {
             type = types.bool;
@@ -85,10 +81,6 @@ in
 
   config =
     lib.mkIf cfg.enable {
-      warnings = lib.optional (cfg.settings.federation.enabled) ''
-        This option was removed in 0.17.0 and no longer has any effect.
-      '';
-
       services.lemmy.settings = (mapAttrs (name: mkDefault)
         {
           bind = "127.0.0.1";
@@ -194,10 +186,16 @@ in
         };
       };
 
-      assertions = [{
-        assertion = cfg.database.createLocally -> cfg.settings.database.host == "localhost" || cfg.settings.database.host == "/run/postgresql";
-        message = "if you want to create the database locally, you need to use a local database";
-      }];
+      assertions = [
+        {
+          assertion = cfg.database.createLocally -> cfg.settings.database.host == "localhost" || cfg.settings.database.host == "/run/postgresql";
+          message = "if you want to create the database locally, you need to use a local database";
+        }
+        {
+          assertion = (!(hasAttrByPath ["federation"] cfg.settings)) && (!(hasAttrByPath ["federation" "enabled"] cfg.settings));
+          message = "`services.lemmy.settings.federation` was removed in 0.17.0 and no longer has any effect";
+        }
+      ];
 
       systemd.services.lemmy = {
         description = "Lemmy server";