diff --git a/Code/Lib/Activity.php b/Code/Lib/Activity.php
index 743c51558..64fb291c9 100644
--- a/Code/Lib/Activity.php
+++ b/Code/Lib/Activity.php
@@ -1152,10 +1152,20 @@ class Activity
             }
         }
 
-
         $images = false;
+
+        // protect code blocks before searching for images
+        $item['body'] = preg_replace_callback('#(^|\n)([`~]{3,})(?: *\.?([a-zA-Z0-9\-.]+))?\n+([\s\S]+?)\n+\2(\n|$)#', function ($match) {
+            return $match[1] . $match[2] . "\n" . bb_code_protect($match[4]) . "\n" . $match[2] . (($match[5]) ?: "\n");
+        }, $item['body']);
+        $item['body'] = preg_replace_callback('/\[code(.*?)\[\/(code)\]/ism', '\red_escape_codeblock', $item['body']);
+        // find all inline images (outside protected code blocks) to add back as attachments
         $has_images = preg_match_all('/\[[zi]mg(.*?)](.*?)\[/ism', $item['body'], $images, PREG_SET_ORDER);
 
+        $item['body'] = preg_replace_callback('/\[\$b64code(.*?)\[\/(code)\]/ism', '\red_unescape_codeblock', $item['body']);
+        $item['body'] = bb_code_unprotect($item['body']);
+
+
         $activity['id'] = $item['mid'];
 
         $activity['published'] = datetime_convert('UTC', 'UTC', $item['created'], ATOM_TIME);