diff --git a/java/core/src/main/java/co/worklytics/psoxy/gateway/ProxyConfigProperty.java b/java/core/src/main/java/co/worklytics/psoxy/gateway/ProxyConfigProperty.java
index bd46c2861..58f225c90 100644
--- a/java/core/src/main/java/co/worklytics/psoxy/gateway/ProxyConfigProperty.java
+++ b/java/core/src/main/java/co/worklytics/psoxy/gateway/ProxyConfigProperty.java
@@ -142,12 +142,11 @@ public enum ProxyConfigProperty implements ConfigService.ConfigProperty {
     /**
      * Whether the proxy should follow HTTP redirects (3xx responses) when calling source APIs.
      *
-     * OPTIONAL; defaults to {@code true} (redirects are followed), matching the default behavior
-     * of the underlying HTTP client.
+     * OPTIONAL. When unset, redirects are followed in synchronous processing and disabled in
+     * async processing so the proxy can intercept 3xx responses and fetch from the Location URL
+     * manually (required for connectors such as ChatGPT Enterprise and Slack Analytics).
      *
-     * Set to {@code FALSE} for connectors whose APIs issue redirects that must not be
-     * automatically followed — e.g. ChatGPT Enterprise, which uses async processing and relies
-     * on the proxy intercepting 3xx responses to fetch data from the Location URL manually.
+     * Set explicitly to override that default for a connector instance.
      *
      * Accepted values: {@code true} / {@code false} (case-insensitive).
      */
diff --git a/java/core/src/main/java/co/worklytics/psoxy/gateway/impl/ApiDataRequestHandler.java b/java/core/src/main/java/co/worklytics/psoxy/gateway/impl/ApiDataRequestHandler.java
index c1b638d29..44db61b5b 100644
--- a/java/core/src/main/java/co/worklytics/psoxy/gateway/impl/ApiDataRequestHandler.java
+++ b/java/core/src/main/java/co/worklytics/psoxy/gateway/impl/ApiDataRequestHandler.java
@@ -379,7 +379,7 @@ public HttpEventResponse handle(HttpEventRequest requestToProxy,
             // setup request
             boolean followRedirects = config.getConfigPropertyAsOptional(ProxyConfigProperty.FOLLOW_REDIRECTS)
                     .map(Boolean::parseBoolean)
-                    .orElse(true);
+                    .orElse(!processingContext.getAsync());
 
             requestToSourceApi
                     .setThrowExceptionOnExecuteError(false)
diff --git a/java/core/src/test/java/co/worklytics/psoxy/gateway/impl/ApiDataRequestHandlerTest.java b/java/core/src/test/java/co/worklytics/psoxy/gateway/impl/ApiDataRequestHandlerTest.java
index 476fae358..40dcf42b8 100644
--- a/java/core/src/test/java/co/worklytics/psoxy/gateway/impl/ApiDataRequestHandlerTest.java
+++ b/java/core/src/test/java/co/worklytics/psoxy/gateway/impl/ApiDataRequestHandlerTest.java
@@ -834,6 +834,62 @@ void isRedirectFamily() {
         assertFalse(handler.isRedirectFamily(400));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    @SneakyThrows
+    void asyncModeDisablesRedirectFollowingByDefault() {
+        setup("gmail", "google.apis.com");
+
+        ApiDataRequestHandler spy = spy(handler);
+
+        HttpEventRequest request = MockModules.provideMock(HttpEventRequest.class);
+        when(request.getHeader(ControlHeader.PSEUDONYM_IMPLEMENTATION.getHttpHeader()))
+            .thenReturn(Optional.empty());
+        when(request.getHttpMethod()).thenReturn("GET");
+        when(request.getPath()).thenReturn("/admin/directory/v1/users");
+        when(request.getQuery()).thenReturn(Optional.empty());
+
+        HttpRequest[] captured = new HttpRequest[1];
+        MockHttpTransport transport = new MockHttpTransport();
+        HttpRequestFactory requestFactory = spy(transport.createRequestFactory());
+        doAnswer(invocation -> {
+            HttpRequest built = (HttpRequest) invocation.callRealMethod();
+            captured[0] = built;
+            return built;
+        }).when(requestFactory).buildRequest(anyString(), any(GenericUrl.class), any());
+        doReturn(requestFactory).when(spy).getRequestFactory(any());
+
+        MockHttpTransport contentTransport = new MockHttpTransport() {
+            @Override
+            public LowLevelHttpRequest buildRequest(String method, String url) throws IOException {
+                return new MockLowLevelHttpRequest() {
+                    @Override
+                    public LowLevelHttpResponse execute() throws IOException {
+                        MockLowLevelHttpResponse response = new MockLowLevelHttpResponse();
+                        response.setStatusCode(200);
+                        response.setContentType(Json.MEDIA_TYPE);
+                        response.setContent("[]");
+                        return response;
+                    }
+                };
+            }
+        };
+        when(spy.httpTransportFactory.create()).thenReturn(contentTransport);
+
+        RESTApiSanitizerImpl sanitizer = mock(RESTApiSanitizerImpl.class);
+        when(sanitizer.isAllowed(anyString(), any(), anyString(), any())).thenReturn(true);
+        spy.sanitizer = sanitizer;
+
+        spy.handle(request, ApiDataRequestHandler.ProcessingContext.builder()
+            .async(true)
+            .requestId("r")
+            .asyncOutputLocation("gs://bucket/output.json")
+            .requestReceivedAt(clock.instant())
+            .build());
+
+        assertNotNull(captured[0]);
+        assertFalse(captured[0].getFollowRedirects());
+    }
+
     @Test
     @SneakyThrows
     void handleShouldFollowRedirectManuallyInAsyncMode() {