Abstract Active phase-control of probe-injected current is shown to both suppress and amplify long-wavelength rotating magnetohydrodynamic instabilities in the HBT-EP tokamak. Four probes are connected in quadrature and energized to drive non-axisymmetric currents through the edge of the tokamak, creating magnetic perturbations comparable to previously-studied saturated kink modes or resonant magnetic perturbations that are generated by an external control coil array. Measurements of the magnetic perturbations from the probe-injected currents determine a set of current-carrying helical filaments used to model active feedback control of resistive wall modes. These experiments suggest current-injection feedback may be an effective alternative to external control coils for control of RWMs and other long-wavelength kink-like modes at the edge of tokamaks.