diff --git a/pkg/identity/identity.go b/pkg/identity/identity.go
index 045725a8d..383dabd0b 100644
--- a/pkg/identity/identity.go
+++ b/pkg/identity/identity.go
@@ -44,18 +44,22 @@ func MatchAllowed(sender bus.SenderInfo, allowed string) bool {
 		return false
 	}
 
-	// Try canonical match first: "platform:id" format
-	if platform, id, ok := ParseCanonicalID(allowed); ok {
-		// Only treat as canonical if the platform portion looks like a known platform name
-		// (not a pure-numeric string, which could be a compound ID)
-		if !isNumeric(platform) {
-			candidate := BuildCanonicalID(platform, id)
-			if candidate != "" && sender.CanonicalID != "" {
-				return strings.EqualFold(sender.CanonicalID, candidate)
+	// Try canonical match first: "platform:id" format.
+	// Skip when allowed starts with "@" — that indicates a username
+	// (e.g., Matrix user IDs like "@alice:matrix.org"), not a canonical ID.
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(allowed, "@") {
+		if platform, id, ok := ParseCanonicalID(allowed); ok {
+			// Only treat as canonical if the platform portion looks like a known platform name
+			// (not a pure-numeric string, which could be a compound ID)
+			if !isNumeric(platform) {
+				candidate := BuildCanonicalID(platform, id)
+				if candidate != "" && sender.CanonicalID != "" {
+					return strings.EqualFold(sender.CanonicalID, candidate)
+				}
+				// If sender has no canonical ID, try matching platform + platformID
+				return strings.EqualFold(platform, sender.Platform) &&
+					sender.PlatformID == id
 			}
-			// If sender has no canonical ID, try matching platform + platformID
-			return strings.EqualFold(platform, sender.Platform) &&
-				sender.PlatformID == id
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -78,8 +82,18 @@ func MatchAllowed(sender bus.SenderInfo, allowed string) bool {
 		return true
 	}
 
-	// Match against Username only when explicitly requested via "@username"
-	if isAtUsername && sender.Username != "" && sender.Username == trimmed {
+	// Match against Username only when explicitly requested via "@username".
+	// Compare against both the trimmed value and the original allowed value,
+	// because some platforms (e.g., Matrix) include "@" in their user IDs.
+	if isAtUsername && sender.Username != "" {
+		if sender.Username == trimmed || sender.Username == allowed {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Also try matching PlatformID against the original "@..." value
+	// for platforms where PlatformID itself contains "@" (e.g., Matrix "@user:server").
+	if isAtUsername && sender.PlatformID != "" && sender.PlatformID == allowed {
 		return true
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/identity/identity_test.go b/pkg/identity/identity_test.go
index c60402d19..d643f8820 100644
--- a/pkg/identity/identity_test.go
+++ b/pkg/identity/identity_test.go
@@ -78,6 +78,14 @@ func TestMatchAllowed(t *testing.T) {
 		Username:   "carol",
 	}
 
+	matrixSender := bus.SenderInfo{
+		Platform:    "matrix",
+		PlatformID:  "@example:matrix.org",
+		CanonicalID: "matrix:@example:matrix.org",
+		Username:    "@example:matrix.org",
+		DisplayName: "@example:matrix.org",
+	}
+
 	tests := []struct {
 		name    string
 		sender  bus.SenderInfo
@@ -223,6 +231,25 @@ func TestMatchAllowed(t *testing.T) {
 			allowed: "  123456  ",
 			want:    true,
 		},
+		// Matrix user ID format "@user:server"
+		{
+			name:    "matrix user ID matches via @username",
+			sender:  matrixSender,
+			allowed: "@example:matrix.org",
+			want:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "matrix canonical format also works",
+			sender:  matrixSender,
+			allowed: "matrix:@example:matrix.org",
+			want:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "matrix user ID wrong user does not match",
+			sender:  matrixSender,
+			allowed: "@other:matrix.org",
+			want:    false,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {