diff --git a/app/src/components/MarkdownPreview.js b/app/src/components/MarkdownPreview.js
index c86733c3..b668c2ec 100644
--- a/app/src/components/MarkdownPreview.js
+++ b/app/src/components/MarkdownPreview.js
@@ -45,22 +45,59 @@ function rewriteURL(token, attr, fileURL) {
     }
 }
 
+function openInNewTab(token) {
+    const href = token.attrGet('href');
+    // Following a link would close the preview; a fragment stays within the document.
+    if (href && !href.startsWith('#')) {
+        token.attrSet('target', '_blank');
+        token.attrSet('rel', 'noopener noreferrer');
+    }
+}
+
+/** An image the preview may load: one served by this WROLPi, or embedded in the file. */
+function isLocalImage(src) {
+    return !src || src.startsWith('data:') || (src.startsWith('/') && !src.startsWith('//'));
+}
+
+/**
+ * Replace an image from another site with a link to it.  Loading it would tell that site who is
+ * reading the file and when (a tracking pixel), so the reader chooses whether to follow it.
+ *
+ * Inside a link (a README badge) the image becomes the outer link's text; links cannot nest.
+ */
+function replaceRemoteImage(state, image, insideLink) {
+    const src = image.attrGet('src');
+    const text = new state.Token('text', '', 0);
+    text.content = image.content || src;
+    if (insideLink) {
+        return [text];
+    }
+    const linkOpen = new state.Token('link_open', 'a', 1);
+    linkOpen.attrSet('href', src);
+    openInNewTab(linkOpen);
+    return [linkOpen, text, new state.Token('link_close', 'a', -1)];
+}
+
 markdown.core.ruler.push('wrolpi_media_urls', (state) => {
     const {fileURL} = state.env;
     for (const token of state.tokens) {
-        for (const child of token.children || []) {
+        if (!token.children) {
+            continue;
+        }
+        let insideLink = false;
+        token.children = token.children.flatMap(child => {
             if (child.type === 'image') {
                 rewriteURL(child, 'src', fileURL);
+                return isLocalImage(child.attrGet('src')) ? [child] : replaceRemoteImage(state, child, insideLink);
             } else if (child.type === 'link_open') {
+                insideLink = true;
                 rewriteURL(child, 'href', fileURL);
-                const href = child.attrGet('href');
-                // Following a link would close the preview; a fragment stays within the document.
-                if (href && !href.startsWith('#')) {
-                    child.attrSet('target', '_blank');
-                    child.attrSet('rel', 'noopener noreferrer');
-                }
+                openInNewTab(child);
+            } else if (child.type === 'link_close') {
+                insideLink = false;
             }
-        }
+            return [child];
+        });
     }
 });
 
diff --git a/app/src/components/MarkdownPreview.test.js b/app/src/components/MarkdownPreview.test.js
index 4612679c..63f3d254 100644
--- a/app/src/components/MarkdownPreview.test.js
+++ b/app/src/components/MarkdownPreview.test.js
@@ -74,6 +74,47 @@ describe('renderMarkdown', () => {
         expect(div.querySelector('img').hasAttribute('src')).toBe(false);
     });
 
+    test.each([
+        ['https://tracker.example/pixel.gif'],
+        ['http://tracker.example/pixel.gif'],
+        // Protocol-relative: starts with a slash, but loads from another host.
+        ['//tracker.example/pixel.gif'],
+    ])('an image from another site (%s) is not loaded, it becomes a link', (src) => {
+        const div = renderToDOM(`![pixel](${src})`);
+
+        expect(div.querySelector('img')).toBeNull();
+        const a = div.querySelector('a');
+        expect(a.getAttribute('href')).toBe(src);
+        expect(a.textContent).toBe('pixel');
+        expect(a.getAttribute('target')).toBe('_blank');
+        expect(a.getAttribute('rel')).toBe('noopener noreferrer');
+    });
+
+    test('an image from another site with no alt text is labeled by its URL', () => {
+        const a = renderToDOM('![](https://example.com/a.png)').querySelector('a');
+
+        expect(a.textContent).toBe('https://example.com/a.png');
+    });
+
+    test('an image from another site inside a link becomes the link text, not a nested link', () => {
+        // The badge pattern common in READMEs.
+        const div = renderToDOM('[![build status](https://ci.example/badge.svg)](https://ci.example/project)');
+
+        expect(div.querySelector('img')).toBeNull();
+        const links = div.querySelectorAll('a');
+        expect(links).toHaveLength(1);
+        expect(links[0].getAttribute('href')).toBe('https://ci.example/project');
+        expect(links[0].textContent).toBe('build status');
+    });
+
+    test('media and embedded data images still load', () => {
+        const [media, data] = renderToDOM('![a](/media/x/a.png)\n\n![b](data:image/png;base64,AAAA)')
+            .querySelectorAll('img');
+
+        expect(media.getAttribute('src')).toBe('/media/x/a.png');
+        expect(data.getAttribute('src')).toBe('data:image/png;base64,AAAA');
+    });
+
     test('external links open in a new tab without an opener', () => {
         const a = renderToDOM('<https://example.com/page>').querySelector('a');