diff --git a/src/shared/HtmlReady.js b/src/shared/HtmlReady.js
index 5cde39a3337c57f40252cae26c33372d976be7b2..60be36be5cc615993ce074ab93548418eb577b88 100644
--- a/src/shared/HtmlReady.js
+++ b/src/shared/HtmlReady.js
@@ -285,23 +285,30 @@ function proxifyImages(doc, state) {
 function linkifyNode(child, state) {
     try {
         const tag = child.parentNode.tagName ? child.parentNode.tagName.toLowerCase() : child.parentNode.tagName;
-        if (tag === 'code') return;
-        if (tag === 'a') return;
+        if (tag === 'code' || tag === 'a') return undefined;
 
         const { mutate } = state;
-        if (!child.data) return;
+        if (!child.data) return undefined;
 
         child = EmbeddedPlayerEmbedNode(child, state.links, state.images);
 
         const data = XMLSerializer.serializeToString(child);
-        const content = linkify(data, state.mutate, state.hashtags, state.usertags, state.images, state.links);
+        const content = linkify(data, mutate, state.hashtags, state.usertags, state.images, state.links);
+
         if (mutate && content !== data) {
-            const newChild = DOMParser.parseFromString(`<span>${content}</span>`);
+            const doc = DOMParser.parseFromString(`<span>${content}</span>`, 'text/html');
+            const wrapper = doc.documentElement; // This is the <span>
+
+            const fragment = child.ownerDocument.createDocumentFragment();
+            for (let i = 0; i < wrapper.childNodes.length; i += 1) {
+                fragment.appendChild(wrapper.childNodes[i].cloneNode(true));
+            }
+
             const parentNode = child.parentNode;
-            parentNode.appendChild(newChild);
+            parentNode.insertBefore(fragment, child);
             parentNode.removeChild(child);
-            // eslint-disable-next-line consistent-return
-            return newChild;
+
+            return fragment;
         }
     } catch (error) {
         console.error('linkify_error', error);
@@ -332,7 +339,7 @@ function linkify(content, mutate, hashtags, usertags, images, links) {
 
             const preceedings = (preceeding1 || '') + (preceeding2 || ''); // include the preceeding matches if they exist
 
-            if (!mutate) return `${preceedings}${user}`;
+            if (!mutate) return match;
 
             return valid ? `${preceedings}<a href="/@${userLower}">@${user}</a>` : `${preceedings}@${user}`;
         }
diff --git a/src/shared/HtmlReady.test.js b/src/shared/HtmlReady.test.js
index 31176b25a5dfb4ff46048fd86acdf4719ced1ead..d6706526786ea7aa34c786f5f94ca7a6d34b45ea 100644
--- a/src/shared/HtmlReady.test.js
+++ b/src/shared/HtmlReady.test.js
@@ -73,14 +73,14 @@ describe('htmlready', () => {
 
     it('should allow more than one link per post', () => {
         const somanylinks = '<xml xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">https://foo.com and https://blah.com</xml>';
-        const htmlified = '<xml xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span><a href="https://foo.com">https://foo.com</a> and <a href="https://blah.com">https://blah.com</a></span></xml>';
+        const htmlified = '<xml xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><a href="https://foo.com">https://foo.com</a> and <a href="https://blah.com">https://blah.com</a></xml>';
         const res = HtmlReady(somanylinks).html;
         expect(res).toEqual(htmlified);
     });
 
     it('should link usernames', () => {
         const textwithmentions = '<xml xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">@username (@a1b2, whatever</xml>';
-        const htmlified = '<xml xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span><a href="/@username">@username</a> (<a href="/@a1b2">@a1b2</a>, whatever</span></xml>';
+        const htmlified = '<xml xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><a href="/@username">@username</a> (<a href="/@a1b2">@a1b2</a>, whatever</xml>';
         const res = HtmlReady(textwithmentions).html;
         expect(res).toEqual(htmlified);
     });
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ describe('htmlready', () => {
         const prefix = '<xml xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">';
         const suffix = '</xml>';
         const input = prefix + url + suffix;
-        const expected = prefix + '<span><a href="' + url + '">' + url + '</a></span>' + suffix;
+        const expected = prefix + '<a href="' + url + '">' + url + '</a>' + suffix;
         const result = HtmlReady(input).html;
         expect(result).toEqual(expected);
     });
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 2d77c771c14df29a408ccbadeeca1a18a4023bb8..7296904a4a79842d1887af35579d99427e5dc7af 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -3752,15 +3752,10 @@ camelcase@^6.2.0:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/camelcase/-/camelcase-6.3.0.tgz#5685b95eb209ac9c0c177467778c9c84df58ba9a"
   integrity sha512-Gmy6FhYlCY7uOElZUSbxo2UCDH8owEk996gkbrpsgGtrJLM3J7jGxl9Ic7Qwwj4ivOE5AWZWRMecDdF7hqGjFA==
 
-caniuse-lite@^1.0.30001109, caniuse-lite@^1.0.30001449:
-  version "1.0.30001617"
-  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/caniuse-lite/-/caniuse-lite-1.0.30001617.tgz"
-  integrity sha512-mLyjzNI9I+Pix8zwcrpxEbGlfqOkF9kM3ptzmKNw5tizSyYwMe+nGLTqMK9cO+0E+Bh6TsBxNAaHWEM8xwSsmA==
-
-caniuse-lite@^1.0.30001587:
-  version "1.0.30001668"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/caniuse-lite/-/caniuse-lite-1.0.30001668.tgz#98e214455329f54bf7a4d70b49c9794f0fbedbed"
-  integrity sha512-nWLrdxqCdblixUO+27JtGJJE/txpJlyUy5YN1u53wLZkP0emYCo5zgS6QYft7VUYR42LGgi/S5hdLZTrnyIddw==
+caniuse-lite@^1.0.30001109, caniuse-lite@^1.0.30001449, caniuse-lite@^1.0.30001587:
+  version "1.0.30001717"
+  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/caniuse-lite/-/caniuse-lite-1.0.30001717.tgz"
+  integrity sha512-auPpttCq6BDEG8ZAuHJIplGw6GODhjw+/11e7IjpnYCxZcW/ONgPs0KVBJ0d1bY3e2+7PRe5RCLyP+PfwVgkYw==
 
 caseless@~0.11.0:
   version "0.11.0"