diff --git a/src/lib/app/markdown/renderers/plugins.js b/src/lib/app/markdown/renderers/plugins.js
index 8a84fd70..8d24d6bb 100644
--- a/src/lib/app/markdown/renderers/plugins.js
+++ b/src/lib/app/markdown/renderers/plugins.js
@@ -94,7 +94,6 @@ export const linkify = markedLinkifyIt(
 const regexes = {
   user: /^https:\/\/([a-zA-Z0-9.-]+)(\/u\/)([a-zA-Z0-9.-_]+)$/i,
   community: /^https:\/\/([a-zA-Z0-9.-]+)(\/c\/)([a-zA-Z0-9.-_]+)$/i,
-  implicitUser: /^mailto:([a-z0-9_.-]+)@(([\da-z.-]+)\.([a-z]{2,63}))/i,
 }
 
 export { regexes as CONTENT_REGEXES }
@@ -119,13 +118,9 @@ export const localizeLink = (link) => {
     if (match?.[3].includes('@')) return `/profile/${match?.[3]}`
     else return `/profile/${match?.[3]}@${match?.[1]}`
   }
-  // Support implicit user syntax (no preceding @), by messing with mailto links.
-  if (regexes.implicitUser.test(link)) {
-    const exec = regexes.implicitUser.exec(link)
-
-    if (!exec?.[1] || !exec?.[2]) return
-    return `/profile/${exec[1]}@${exec[2]}`
-  }
+  // NOTE: mailto: links are deliberately left untouched. The old Lemmy-era
+  // "implicit user mention" rewrite turned every real email link (e.g.
+  // support@coves.social on /legal) into a dead /profile/ link.
 }
 
 export function subSupscriptExtension(tokensExtractor) {
diff --git a/src/lib/app/markdown/renderers/plugins.test.ts b/src/lib/app/markdown/renderers/plugins.test.ts
index 9e6626b6..ee8375fd 100644
--- a/src/lib/app/markdown/renderers/plugins.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/app/markdown/renderers/plugins.test.ts
@@ -28,23 +28,16 @@ describe('localizeLink - user links', () => {
 })
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-// localizeLink() - implicit user links (mailto)
+// localizeLink() - mailto links stay untouched (real email links must work)
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-describe('localizeLink - implicit user links (mailto)', () => {
-  it('rewrites mailto link to /profile/ path', () => {
-    const result = localizeLink('mailto:alice@coves.social')
-    expect(result).toBe('/profile/alice@coves.social')
+describe('localizeLink - mailto links', () => {
+  it('leaves plain mailto links untouched', () => {
+    expect(localizeLink('mailto:alice@coves.social')).toBeUndefined()
   })
 
-  it('rewrites mailto link with subdomain instance', () => {
-    const result = localizeLink('mailto:bob@lemmy.world')
-    expect(result).toBe('/profile/bob@lemmy.world')
-  })
-
-  it('handles username with dots and hyphens', () => {
-    const result = localizeLink('mailto:first.last@example.org')
-    expect(result).toBe('/profile/first.last@example.org')
+  it('leaves mailto links with dots and hyphens untouched', () => {
+    expect(localizeLink('mailto:first.last@example.org')).toBeUndefined()
   })
 })
 
@@ -116,11 +109,4 @@ describe('CONTENT_REGEXES', () => {
       true,
     )
   })
-
-  it('exports implicitUser regex', () => {
-    expect(CONTENT_REGEXES.implicitUser).toBeInstanceOf(RegExp)
-    expect(CONTENT_REGEXES.implicitUser.test('mailto:alice@coves.social')).toBe(
-      true,
-    )
-  })
 })