diff --git a/lib/pleroma/html.ex b/lib/pleroma/html.ex
index cf6c0ee0a..eb33d12d9 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/html.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/html.ex
@@ -28,12 +28,18 @@ defmodule Pleroma.HTML do
   def filter_tags(html), do: filter_tags(html, nil)
   def strip_tags(html), do: Scrubber.scrub(html, Scrubber.StripTags)
 
-  def get_cached_scrubbed_html_for_activity(content, scrubbers, activity, key \\ "") do
+  def get_cached_scrubbed_html_for_activity(
+        content,
+        scrubbers,
+        activity,
+        key \\ "",
+        callback \\ fn x -> x end
+      ) do
     key = "#{key}#{generate_scrubber_signature(scrubbers)}|#{activity.id}"
 
     Cachex.fetch!(:scrubber_cache, key, fn _key ->
       object = Pleroma.Object.normalize(activity)
-      ensure_scrubbed_html(content, scrubbers, object.data["fake"] || false)
+      ensure_scrubbed_html(content, scrubbers, object.data["fake"] || false, callback)
     end)
   end
 
@@ -42,16 +48,27 @@ defmodule Pleroma.HTML do
       content,
       HtmlSanitizeEx.Scrubber.StripTags,
       activity,
-      key
+      key,
+      &HtmlEntities.decode/1
     )
   end
 
   def ensure_scrubbed_html(
         content,
         scrubbers,
-        false = _fake
+        fake,
+        callback
       ) do
-    {:commit, filter_tags(content, scrubbers)}
+    content =
+      content
+      |> filter_tags(scrubbers)
+      |> callback.()
+
+    if fake do
+      {:ignore, content}
+    else
+      {:commit, content}
+    end
   end
 
   def ensure_scrubbed_html(
diff --git a/test/web/twitter_api/views/activity_view_test.exs b/test/web/twitter_api/views/activity_view_test.exs
index d84ab7420..85815ba7e 100644
--- a/test/web/twitter_api/views/activity_view_test.exs
+++ b/test/web/twitter_api/views/activity_view_test.exs
@@ -371,4 +371,14 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.TwitterAPI.ActivityViewTest do
     assert length(result["attachments"]) == 1
     assert result["summary"] == "Friday Night"
   end
+
+  test "special characters are not escaped in text field for status created" do
+    text = "<3 is on the way"
+
+    {:ok, activity} = CommonAPI.post(insert(:user), %{"status" => text})
+
+    result = ActivityView.render("activity.json", activity: activity)
+
+    assert result["text"] == text
+  end
 end