diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinator.java b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinator.java
index 2c578a6d2ebdb..634b4a2e7ccb0 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinator.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinator.java
@@ -259,8 +259,8 @@ void autoFollowIndices() {
                     if (leaderClusterState != null) {
                         assert e == null;
                         final List<String> followedIndices = autoFollowMetadata.getFollowedLeaderIndexUUIDs().get(clusterAlias);
-                        final List<Index> leaderIndicesToFollow =
-                            getLeaderIndicesToFollow(autoFollowPattern, leaderClusterState, followerClusterState, followedIndices);
+                        final List<Index> leaderIndicesToFollow = getLeaderIndicesToFollow(clusterAlias, autoFollowPattern,
+                            leaderClusterState, followerClusterState, followedIndices);
                         if (leaderIndicesToFollow.isEmpty()) {
                             finalise(slot, new AutoFollowResult(clusterAlias));
                         } else {
@@ -331,17 +331,18 @@ private void finalise(int slot, AutoFollowResult result) {
             }
         }
 
-        static List<Index> getLeaderIndicesToFollow(AutoFollowPattern autoFollowPattern,
+        static List<Index> getLeaderIndicesToFollow(String clusterAlias,
+                                                    AutoFollowPattern autoFollowPattern,
                                                     ClusterState leaderClusterState,
                                                     ClusterState followerClusterState,
                                                     List<String> followedIndexUUIDs) {
             List<Index> leaderIndicesToFollow = new ArrayList<>();
             for (IndexMetaData leaderIndexMetaData : leaderClusterState.getMetaData()) {
-                // We should not automatically follow a leader index that is also a follow index and
-                // that both leader and follow index are in the same cluster otherwise this can
-                // result into an index creation explosion.
+                // If an auto follow pattern has been set up for the local cluster then
+                // we should not automatically follow a leader index that is also a follow index because
+                // this can result into an index creation explosion.
                 if (leaderIndexMetaData.getCustomData(Ccr.CCR_CUSTOM_METADATA_KEY) != null &&
-                    leaderClusterState.getClusterName().equals(followerClusterState.getClusterName())) {
+                    clusterAlias.equals("_local_")) {
                     continue;
                 }
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinatorTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinatorTests.java
index dda192aa8b234..81bc9d923519a 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinatorTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinatorTests.java
@@ -311,7 +311,8 @@ public void testGetLeaderIndicesToFollow() {
             .metaData(imdBuilder)
             .build();
 
-        List<Index> result = AutoFollower.getLeaderIndicesToFollow(autoFollowPattern, leaderState, followerState, Collections.emptyList());
+        List<Index> result = AutoFollower.getLeaderIndicesToFollow("remote", autoFollowPattern, leaderState, followerState,
+            Collections.emptyList());
         result.sort(Comparator.comparing(Index::getName));
         assertThat(result.size(), equalTo(5));
         assertThat(result.get(0).getName(), equalTo("metrics-0"));
@@ -321,7 +322,7 @@ public void testGetLeaderIndicesToFollow() {
         assertThat(result.get(4).getName(), equalTo("metrics-4"));
 
         List<String> followedIndexUUIDs = Collections.singletonList(leaderState.metaData().index("metrics-2").getIndexUUID());
-        result = AutoFollower.getLeaderIndicesToFollow(autoFollowPattern, leaderState, followerState, followedIndexUUIDs);
+        result = AutoFollower.getLeaderIndicesToFollow("remote", autoFollowPattern, leaderState, followerState, followedIndexUUIDs);
         result.sort(Comparator.comparing(Index::getName));
         assertThat(result.size(), equalTo(4));
         assertThat(result.get(0).getName(), equalTo("metrics-0"));
@@ -331,13 +332,6 @@ public void testGetLeaderIndicesToFollow() {
     }
 
     public void testGetLeaderIndicesToFollowDoNotSelectFollowIndicesInTheSameCluster() {
-        AutoFollowPattern autoFollowPattern =
-            new AutoFollowPattern(Collections.singletonList("metrics-*"), null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null);
-        ClusterState followerState = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("name"))
-            .metaData(MetaData.builder().putCustom(AutoFollowMetadata.TYPE,
-                new AutoFollowMetadata(Collections.singletonMap("remote", autoFollowPattern), Collections.emptyMap())))
-            .build();
-
         MetaData.Builder imdBuilder = MetaData.builder();
         imdBuilder.put(IndexMetaData.builder("metrics-0")
             .settings(settings(Version.CURRENT))
@@ -349,11 +343,17 @@ public void testGetLeaderIndicesToFollowDoNotSelectFollowIndicesInTheSameCluster
             .numberOfShards(1)
             .numberOfReplicas(0));
 
-        ClusterState leaderState = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("name"))
+        AutoFollowPattern autoFollowPattern =
+            new AutoFollowPattern(Collections.singletonList("metrics-*"), null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null);
+        imdBuilder.putCustom(AutoFollowMetadata.TYPE,
+            new AutoFollowMetadata(Collections.singletonMap("remote", autoFollowPattern), Collections.emptyMap()));
+
+        ClusterState clusterState = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("name"))
             .metaData(imdBuilder)
             .build();
 
-        List<Index> result = AutoFollower.getLeaderIndicesToFollow(autoFollowPattern, leaderState, followerState, Collections.emptyList());
+        List<Index> result = AutoFollower.getLeaderIndicesToFollow("_local_", autoFollowPattern, clusterState,
+            clusterState, Collections.emptyList());
         result.sort(Comparator.comparing(Index::getName));
         assertThat(result.size(), equalTo(1));
         assertThat(result.get(0).getName(), equalTo("metrics-0"));