diff --git a/mod/item.php b/mod/item.php
index b14da4604e..d6ce4a0944 100644
--- a/mod/item.php
+++ b/mod/item.php
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ function item_post(App $a) {
 		$app               = $orig_post['app'];
 		$categories        = $orig_post['file'];
 		$title             = Strings::escapeTags(trim($_REQUEST['title']));
-		$body              = Strings::escapeHtml(trim($body));
+		$body              = trim($body);
 		$private           = $orig_post['private'];
 		$pubmail_enabled   = $orig_post['pubmail'];
 		$network           = $orig_post['network'];
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ function item_post(App $a) {
 		$coord             = Strings::escapeTags(trim($_REQUEST['coord']    ?? ''));
 		$verb              = Strings::escapeTags(trim($_REQUEST['verb']     ?? ''));
 		$emailcc           = Strings::escapeTags(trim($_REQUEST['emailcc']  ?? ''));
-		$body              = Strings::escapeHtml(trim($body));
+		$body              = trim($body);
 		$network           = Strings::escapeTags(trim(($_REQUEST['network']  ?? '') ?: Protocol::DFRN));
 		$guid              = System::createUUID();
 
@@ -509,7 +509,7 @@ function item_post(App $a) {
 	// Fold multi-line [code] sequences
 	$body = preg_replace('/\[\/code\]\s*\[code\]/ism', "\n", $body);
 
-	$body = BBCode::scaleExternalImages($body, false);
+	$body = BBCode::scaleExternalImages($body);
 
 	// Setting the object type if not defined before
 	if (!$objecttype) {
diff --git a/src/Content/Text/BBCode.php b/src/Content/Text/BBCode.php
index 11caeb6ecb..51fa08ad3d 100644
--- a/src/Content/Text/BBCode.php
+++ b/src/Content/Text/BBCode.php
@@ -436,15 +436,9 @@ class BBCode
 		}
 	}
 
-	public static function scaleExternalImages($srctext, $include_link = true, $scale_replace = false)
+	public static function scaleExternalImages($srctext)
 	{
-		// Suppress "view full size"
-		if (intval(Config::get('system', 'no_view_full_size'))) {
-			$include_link = false;
-		}
-
-		// Picture addresses can contain special characters
-		$s = htmlspecialchars_decode($srctext);
+		$s = $srctext;
 
 		$matches = null;
 		$c = preg_match_all('/\[img.*?\](.*?)\[\/img\]/ism', $s, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER);
@@ -457,17 +451,7 @@ class BBCode
 					continue;
 				}
 
-				// $scale_replace, if passed, is an array of two elements. The
-				// first is the name of the full-size image. The second is the
-				// name of a remote, scaled-down version of the full size image.
-				// This allows Friendica to display the smaller remote image if
-				// one exists, while still linking to the full-size image
-				if ($scale_replace) {
-					$scaled = str_replace($scale_replace[0], $scale_replace[1], $mtch[1]);
-				} else {
-					$scaled = $mtch[1];
-				}
-				$i = Network::fetchUrl($scaled);
+				$i = Network::fetchUrl($mtch[1]);
 				if (!$i) {
 					return $srctext;
 				}
@@ -488,10 +472,8 @@ class BBCode
 							Logger::log('scale_external_images: ' . $orig_width . '->' . $new_width . 'w ' . $orig_height . '->' . $new_height . 'h' . ' match: ' . $mtch[0], Logger::DEBUG);
 							$s = str_replace(
 								$mtch[0],
-								'[img=' . $new_width . 'x' . $new_height. ']' . $scaled . '[/img]'
-								. "\n" . (($include_link)
-									? '[url=' . $mtch[1] . ']' . L10n::t('view full size') . '[/url]' . "\n"
-									: ''),
+								'[img=' . $new_width . 'x' . $new_height. ']' . $mtch[1] . '[/img]'
+								. "\n",
 								$s
 							);
 							Logger::log('scale_external_images: new string: ' . $s, Logger::DEBUG);
@@ -501,8 +483,6 @@ class BBCode
 			}
 		}
 
-		// replace the special char encoding
-		$s = htmlspecialchars($s, ENT_NOQUOTES, 'UTF-8');
 		return $s;
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/Content/Text/Markdown.php b/src/Content/Text/Markdown.php
index 8d363675fc..632282dff5 100644
--- a/src/Content/Text/Markdown.php
+++ b/src/Content/Text/Markdown.php
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ class Markdown
 		$s = preg_replace('/(\[code\])+(.*?)(\[\/code\])+/ism', '[code]$2[/code]', $s);
 
 		// Don't show link to full picture (until it is fixed)
-		$s = BBCode::scaleExternalImages($s, false);
+		$s = BBCode::scaleExternalImages($s);
 
 		return $s;
 	}
diff --git a/static/defaults.config.php b/static/defaults.config.php
index e8211d597d..dfec158cfe 100644
--- a/static/defaults.config.php
+++ b/static/defaults.config.php
@@ -297,10 +297,6 @@ return [
 		// Don't show smilies.
 		'no_smilies' => false,
 
-		// no_view_full_size (Boolean)
-		// Don't add the link "View full size" under a resized image.
-		'no_view_full_size' => false,
-
 		// optimize_items (Boolean)
 		// Triggers an SQL command to optimize the item table before expiring items.
 		'optimize_items' => false,