diff --git a/src/Content/Smilies.php b/src/Content/Smilies.php
index d231797b81..6d07de575c 100644
--- a/src/Content/Smilies.php
+++ b/src/Content/Smilies.php
@@ -285,4 +285,17 @@ class Smilies
 
 		return str_replace($matches[0], $t, $matches[0]);
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Checks if the body only contains 4 byte unicode characters.
+	 *
+	 * @param string $body
+	 * @return boolean
+	 */
+	public static function isEmojiPost(string $body): bool
+	{
+		$conv = html_entity_decode(str_replace([' ', "\n", "\r"], '', $body));
+		// Emojis are always 4 byte Unicode characters
+		return (!empty($conv) && (strlen($conv) / mb_strlen($conv) == 4));
+	}
 }
diff --git a/src/Content/Text/BBCode.php b/src/Content/Text/BBCode.php
index ab7300da18..239e6dfa09 100644
--- a/src/Content/Text/BBCode.php
+++ b/src/Content/Text/BBCode.php
@@ -1735,12 +1735,8 @@ class BBCode
 					$text = preg_replace("/\[event\-id\](.*?)\[\/event\-id\]/ism", '', $text);
 				}
 
-				if (!$for_plaintext && DI::config()->get('system', 'big_emojis') && ($simple_html != self::DIASPORA)) {
-					$conv = html_entity_decode(str_replace([' ', "\n", "\r"], '', $text));
-					// Emojis are always 4 byte Unicode characters
-					if (!empty($conv) && (strlen($conv) / mb_strlen($conv) == 4)) {
-						$text = '<span style="font-size: xx-large; line-height: normal;">' . $text . '</span>';
-					}
+				if (!$for_plaintext && DI::config()->get('system', 'big_emojis') && ($simple_html != self::DIASPORA) && Smilies::isEmojiPost($text)) {
+					$text = '<span style="font-size: xx-large; line-height: normal;">' . $text . '</span>';
 				}
 
 				// Handle mentions and hashtag links
diff --git a/src/Protocol/Relay.php b/src/Protocol/Relay.php
index 2002aa9bb8..8bcced7567 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/Relay.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/Relay.php
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 
 namespace Friendica\Protocol;
 
+use Friendica\Content\Smilies;
 use Friendica\Content\Text\BBCode;
 use Friendica\Core\Logger;
 use Friendica\Core\Protocol;
@@ -157,6 +158,11 @@ class Relay
 	 */
 	public static function isWantedLanguage(string $body)
 	{
+		if (empty($body) || Smilies::isEmojiPost($body)) {
+			Logger::debug('Empty body or only emojis', ['body' => $body]);
+			return true;
+		}
+
 		$languages = [];
 		foreach (Item::getLanguageArray($body, 10) as $language => $reliability) {
 			if ($reliability > 0) {