diff --git a/pillar/api/utils/authentication.py b/pillar/api/utils/authentication.py
index fb83f125..86b6f1a0 100644
--- a/pillar/api/utils/authentication.py
+++ b/pillar/api/utils/authentication.py
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ def validate_token():
     @returns True iff the user is logged in with a valid Blender ID token.
     """
 
-    from pillar.auth import force_logout_user
+    from pillar.auth import AnonymousUser
 
     if request.authorization:
         token = request.authorization.username
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ def validate_token():
         # If no authorization headers are provided, we are getting a request
         # from a non logged in user. Proceed accordingly.
         log.debug('No authentication headers, so not logged in.')
-        force_logout_user()
+        g.current_user = AnonymousUser()
         return False
 
     return validate_this_token(token, oauth_subclient) is not None
@@ -144,9 +144,9 @@ def validate_this_token(token, oauth_subclient=None):
     :rtype: dict
     """
 
-    from pillar.auth import UserClass, force_logout_user
+    from pillar.auth import UserClass, AnonymousUser
 
-    force_logout_user()
+    g.current_user = None
     _delete_expired_tokens()
 
     # Check the users to see if there is one with this Blender ID token.
@@ -168,6 +168,7 @@ def validate_this_token(token, oauth_subclient=None):
 
     if db_user is None:
         log.debug('Validation failed, user not logged in')
+        g.current_user = AnonymousUser()
         return None
 
     g.current_user = UserClass.construct(token, db_user)
diff --git a/pillar/auth/__init__.py b/pillar/auth/__init__.py
index b4b5d0ad..429e384b 100644
--- a/pillar/auth/__init__.py
+++ b/pillar/auth/__init__.py
@@ -207,21 +207,6 @@ def login_user(oauth_token: str, *, load_from_db=False):
     g.current_user = user
 
 
-def force_logout_user():
-    """Resets the current user to an AnonymousUser instance."""
-
-    from flask import g
-
-    # Force the current user to be the anonymous user. Calling
-    # flask_login.logout_user() here would cause infinite recursion, because
-    # that calls _load_user(), which in turn tries to validate the current
-    # token, which in turn starts by calling force_logout_user() just to be
-    # safe.
-    anon_user = AnonymousUser()
-    flask_login.current_user = anon_user
-    g.current_user = anon_user
-
-
 def get_blender_id_oauth_token():
     """Returns a tuple (token, ''), for use with flask_oauthlib."""