diff --git a/changelog.d/rich_media_config.skip b/changelog.d/rich_media_config.skip
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/lib/pleroma/web/rich_media/card.ex b/lib/pleroma/web/rich_media/card.ex
index 36a1ae44a..040066f36 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/web/rich_media/card.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/web/rich_media/card.ex
@@ -77,19 +77,23 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.RichMedia.Card do
 
   @spec get_or_backfill_by_url(String.t(), map()) :: t() | nil
   def get_or_backfill_by_url(url, backfill_opts \\ %{}) do
-    case get_by_url(url) do
-      %__MODULE__{} = card ->
-        card
+    if @config_impl.get([:rich_media, :enabled]) do
+      case get_by_url(url) do
+        %__MODULE__{} = card ->
+          card
 
-      nil ->
-        backfill_opts = Map.put(backfill_opts, :url, url)
+        nil ->
+          backfill_opts = Map.put(backfill_opts, :url, url)
 
-        Backfill.start(backfill_opts)
+          Backfill.start(backfill_opts)
 
-        nil
+          nil
 
-      :error ->
-        nil
+        :error ->
+          nil
+      end
+    else
+      nil
     end
   end
 
@@ -104,7 +108,8 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.RichMedia.Card do
   @spec get_by_activity(Activity.t()) :: t() | nil | :error
   # Fake/Draft activity
   def get_by_activity(%Activity{id: "pleroma:fakeid"} = activity) do
-    with %Object{} = object <- Object.normalize(activity, fetch: false),
+    with {_, true} <- {:config, @config_impl.get([:rich_media, :enabled])},
+         %Object{} = object <- Object.normalize(activity, fetch: false),
          url when not is_nil(url) <- HTML.extract_first_external_url_from_object(object) do
       case get_by_url(url) do
         # Cache hit
diff --git a/lib/pleroma/web/rich_media/parser.ex b/lib/pleroma/web/rich_media/parser.ex
index 37cf29029..7f6b5d388 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/web/rich_media/parser.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/web/rich_media/parser.ex
@@ -15,10 +15,14 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.RichMedia.Parser do
 
   @spec parse(String.t()) :: {:ok, map()} | {:error, any()}
   def parse(url) do
-    with :ok <- validate_page_url(url),
+    with {_, true} <- {:config, @config_impl.get([:rich_media, :enabled])},
+         :ok <- validate_page_url(url),
          {:ok, data} <- parse_url(url) do
       data = Map.put(data, "url", url)
       {:ok, data}
+    else
+      {:config, _} -> {:error, :rich_media_disabled}
+      e -> e
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/test/pleroma/web/rich_media/parser_test.exs b/test/pleroma/web/rich_media/parser_test.exs
index 3fcb5c808..a5f2563a2 100644
--- a/test/pleroma/web/rich_media/parser_test.exs
+++ b/test/pleroma/web/rich_media/parser_test.exs
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.RichMedia.ParserTest do
     mock_global(fn env -> apply(HttpRequestMock, :request, [env]) end)
   end
 
+  setup_all do: clear_config([:rich_media, :enabled], true)
+
   test "returns error when no metadata present" do
     assert {:error, _} = Parser.parse("https://example.com/empty")
   end
@@ -127,4 +129,10 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Web.RichMedia.ParserTest do
       assert :error == Parser.parse(url)
     end)
   end
+
+  test "returns error when disabled" do
+    clear_config([:rich_media, :enabled], false)
+
+    assert match?({:error, :rich_media_disabled}, Parser.parse("https://example.com/ogp"))
+  end
 end