diff --git a/app/helpers/format_helper.rb b/app/helpers/format_helper.rb
index 26014f89..152ac239 100644
--- a/app/helpers/format_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/format_helper.rb
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ module FormatHelper
       safe_links_only: true
     }
     markdown = Redcarpet::Markdown.new(Redcarpet::Render::HTML.new(render_options), markdown_options)
-    sanitize(markdown.render(text))
+    sanitize(sanitize(markdown.render(text)), scrubber: Loofah::Scrubbers::NoFollow.new)
   end
 
   def markdown_hint(text='')
diff --git a/spec/helpers/format_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/format_helper_spec.rb
index 4e64eb94..e4190d09 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/format_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/format_helper_spec.rb
@@ -16,5 +16,18 @@ describe FormatHelper, type: :helper do
     it 'should return HTML for header markdown' do
       expect(markdown('# this is my header')).to eq "<h1>this is my header</h1>\n"
     end
+
+    it 'escapes input HTML' do
+      expect(markdown('<em>*a*</em>')).to eq "<p>&lt;em&gt;<em>a</em>&lt;/em&gt;</p>\n"
+    end
+
+    it 'removes unallowed elements' do
+      expect(markdown('<em>*<style>a</style>*</em>', false)).to eq "<p><em><em>a</em></em></p>\n"
+    end
+
+    it 'sets nofollow on links' do
+      expect(markdown('[a](https://example.com/)'))
+        .to eq "<p><a href=\"https://example.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">a</a></p>\n"
+    end
   end
 end