diff --git a/src/Database/DBM.php b/src/Database/DBM.php
index 6f14c12b8c..7daf6b545f 100644
--- a/src/Database/DBM.php
+++ b/src/Database/DBM.php
@@ -114,19 +114,13 @@ class DBM
 	/**
 	 * Checks Converts any date string into a SQL compatible date string
 	 *
+	 * @deprecated since version 3.6
 	 * @param string $date a date string in any format
 	 *
 	 * @return string SQL style date string
 	 */
 	public static function date($date = 'now')
 	{
-		$timestamp = strtotime($date);
-
-		// Don't allow lower date strings as '0001-01-01 00:00:00'
-		if ($timestamp < -62135596800) {
-			$timestamp = -62135596800;
-		}
-
-		return date(DateTimeFormat::MYSQL, (int)$timestamp);
+		return DateTimeFormat::utc($date);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/Protocol/PortableContact.php b/src/Protocol/PortableContact.php
index 7f351ed059..8d51a89693 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/PortableContact.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/PortableContact.php
@@ -502,14 +502,16 @@ class PortableContact
 		$last_updated = "";
 
 		foreach ($entries as $entry) {
-			$published = $xpath->query('atom:published/text()', $entry)->item(0)->nodeValue;
-			$updated = $xpath->query('atom:updated/text()', $entry)->item(0)->nodeValue;
+			$published = DateTimeFormat::utc($xpath->query('atom:published/text()', $entry)->item(0)->nodeValue);
+			$updated   = DateTimeFormat::utc($xpath->query('atom:updated/text()'  , $entry)->item(0)->nodeValue);
 
-			if ($last_updated < $published)
+			if ($last_updated < $published) {
 				$last_updated = $published;
+			}
 
-			if ($last_updated < $updated)
+			if ($last_updated < $updated) {
 				$last_updated = $updated;
+			}
 		}
 
 		// Maybe there aren't any entries. Then check if it is a valid feed
@@ -518,7 +520,8 @@ class PortableContact
 				$last_updated = NULL_DATE;
 			}
 		}
-		$fields = ['updated' => DBM::date($last_updated), 'last_contact' => DBM::date()];
+
+		$fields = ['updated' => $last_updated, 'last_contact' => DateTimeFormat::utcNow()];
 		dba::update('gcontact', $fields, ['nurl' => normalise_link($profile)]);
 
 		if (($gcontacts[0]["generation"] == 0)) {
@@ -528,7 +531,7 @@ class PortableContact
 
 		logger("Profile ".$profile." was last updated at ".$last_updated, LOGGER_DEBUG);
 
-		return($last_updated);
+		return $last_updated;
 	}
 
 	public static function updateNeeded($created, $updated, $last_failure, $last_contact)