I like that the icons show which kind of game I played with the friends. But maybe the best criterion for culling is: players who have not been active for a long time. Similarly, sorting by rating would make it easier to preserve higher-rated friends.
the paginated API for followed players must be used (which lacks the last time seen value) which would probably lead to overload responses for people with 400 friends
the last seen at measure has to be formatted in various languages
the ratings cannot be compared as some players have bullet and other have blitz ratings returned.
Therefore the implementation will be different, just adding a new filter for inactive players (haven't played in a year)
https://lichess.org/forum/lichess-feedback/please-enable-me-to-pick-different-sort-orders-when-listing-people-i-follow