diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/network/basics/uri.py b/lib/ansible/modules/network/basics/uri.py
index 42c098a4cff..46fc6fd943c 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/network/basics/uri.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/network/basics/uri.py
@@ -297,12 +297,16 @@ def uri(module, url, dest, body, body_format, method, headers, socket_timeout):
     redir_info = {}
     r = {}
     if dest is not None:
+        # Stash follow_redirects, in this block we don't want to follow
+        # we'll reset back to the supplied value soon
+        follow_redirects = module.params['follow_redirects']
+        module.params['follow_redirects'] = False
         dest = os.path.expanduser(dest)
         if os.path.isdir(dest):
             # first check if we are redirected to a file download
             _, redir_info = fetch_url(module, url, data=body,
                                       headers=headers,
-                                      method=method, follow_redirects=None,
+                                      method=method,
                                       timeout=socket_timeout)
             # if we are redirected, update the url with the location header,
             # and update dest with the new url filename
@@ -316,6 +320,9 @@ def uri(module, url, dest, body, body_format, method, headers, socket_timeout):
             tstamp = t.strftime('%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S +0000')
             headers['If-Modified-Since'] = tstamp
 
+        # Reset follow_redirects back to the stashed value
+        module.params['follow_redirects'] = follow_redirects
+
     resp, info = fetch_url(module, url, data=body, headers=headers,
                            method=method, timeout=socket_timeout)
     r['redirected'] = redirected or info['url'] != url