diff --git a/app/soapbox/actions/statuses.js b/app/soapbox/actions/statuses.js
index 5b65349b7..440d4150e 100644
--- a/app/soapbox/actions/statuses.js
+++ b/app/soapbox/actions/statuses.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { deleteFromTimelines } from './timelines';
 import { importFetchedStatus, importFetchedStatuses } from './importer';
 import { openModal } from './modal';
 import { isLoggedIn } from 'soapbox/utils/auth';
+import { shouldHaveCard } from 'soapbox/utils/status';
 
 export const STATUS_CREATE_REQUEST = 'STATUS_CREATE_REQUEST';
 export const STATUS_CREATE_SUCCESS = 'STATUS_CREATE_SUCCESS';
@@ -44,8 +45,31 @@ export function createStatus(params, idempotencyKey) {
     return api(getState).post('/api/v1/statuses', params, {
       headers: { 'Idempotency-Key': idempotencyKey },
     }).then(({ data: status }) => {
+      // The backend might still be processing the rich media attachment
+      if (!status.card && shouldHaveCard(status)) {
+        status.expectsCard = true;
+      }
+
       dispatch(importFetchedStatus(status, idempotencyKey));
       dispatch({ type: STATUS_CREATE_SUCCESS, status, params, idempotencyKey });
+
+      // Poll the backend for the updated card
+      if (status.expectsCard) {
+        const delay = 1000;
+
+        const poll = (retries = 5) => {
+          api(getState).get(`/api/v1/statuses/${status.id}`).then(response => {
+            if (response.data && response.data.card) {
+              dispatch(importFetchedStatus(response.data));
+            } else if (retries > 0 && response.status === 200) {
+              setTimeout(() => poll(retries - 1), delay);
+            }
+          }).catch(console.error);
+        };
+
+        setTimeout(() => poll(), delay);
+      }
+
       return status;
     }).catch(error => {
       dispatch({ type: STATUS_CREATE_FAIL, error, params, idempotencyKey });
diff --git a/app/soapbox/components/status.js b/app/soapbox/components/status.js
index de7a330ca..ff7f23f52 100644
--- a/app/soapbox/components/status.js
+++ b/app/soapbox/components/status.js
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import Icon from 'soapbox/components/icon';
 import { Link, NavLink } from 'react-router-dom';
 import { getDomain } from 'soapbox/utils/accounts';
 import HoverRefWrapper from 'soapbox/components/hover_ref_wrapper';
+import PlaceholderCard from 'soapbox/features/placeholder/components/placeholder_card';
 
 // We use the component (and not the container) since we do not want
 // to use the progress bar to show download progress
@@ -465,6 +466,10 @@ class Status extends ImmutablePureComponent {
           defaultWidth={this.props.cachedMediaWidth}
         />
       );
+    } else if (status.get('expectsCard', false)) {
+      media = (
+        <PlaceholderCard />
+      );
     }
 
     if (otherAccounts && otherAccounts.size > 1) {
diff --git a/app/soapbox/features/placeholder/components/placeholder_card.js b/app/soapbox/features/placeholder/components/placeholder_card.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7f211709d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/soapbox/features/placeholder/components/placeholder_card.js
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+import React from 'react';
+import { randomIntFromInterval, generateText } from '../utils';
+
+export default class PlaceholderCard extends React.Component {
+
+  shouldComponentUpdate() {
+    // Re-rendering this will just cause the random lengths to jump around.
+    // There's basically no reason to ever do it.
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  render() {
+    return (
+      <div className='status-card status-card--placeholder'>
+        <div className='status-card__image' />
+        <div className='status-card__content'>
+          <span className='status-card__title'>{generateText(randomIntFromInterval(5, 25))}</span>
+          <p className='status-card__description'>
+            {generateText(randomIntFromInterval(5, 75))}
+          </p>
+          <span className='status-card__host'>
+            {generateText(randomIntFromInterval(5, 15))}
+          </span>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    );
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/app/soapbox/features/status/components/card.js b/app/soapbox/features/status/components/card.js
index 4e870640e..2653f9304 100644
--- a/app/soapbox/features/status/components/card.js
+++ b/app/soapbox/features/status/components/card.js
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ export default class Card extends React.PureComponent {
 
     const description = (
       <div className='status-card__content'>
-        {title}
+        <span className='status-card__title'>{title}</span>
         <p className='status-card__description'>{trim(card.get('description') || '', maxDescription)}</p>
         <span className='status-card__host'><Icon src={require('@tabler/icons/icons/link.svg')} /> {provider}</span>
       </div>
diff --git a/app/soapbox/features/ui/components/pending_status.js b/app/soapbox/features/ui/components/pending_status.js
index dd9327979..13daa5928 100644
--- a/app/soapbox/features/ui/components/pending_status.js
+++ b/app/soapbox/features/ui/components/pending_status.js
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ import Avatar from 'soapbox/components/avatar';
 import DisplayName from 'soapbox/components/display_name';
 import AttachmentThumbs from 'soapbox/components/attachment_thumbs';
 import PollPreview from './poll_preview';
+import PlaceholderCard from 'soapbox/features/placeholder/components/placeholder_card';
+
+const shouldHaveCard = pendingStatus => {
+  return Boolean(pendingStatus.get('content').match(/https?:\/\/\S*/));
+};
 
 const mapStateToProps = (state, props) => {
   const { idempotencyKey } = props;
@@ -24,6 +29,23 @@ const mapStateToProps = (state, props) => {
 export default @connect(mapStateToProps)
 class PendingStatus extends ImmutablePureComponent {
 
+  renderMedia = () => {
+    const { status } = this.props;
+
+    if (status.get('media_attachments') && !status.get('media_attachments').isEmpty()) {
+      return (
+        <AttachmentThumbs
+          compact
+          media={status.get('media_attachments')}
+        />
+      );
+    } else if (shouldHaveCard(status)) {
+      return <PlaceholderCard />;
+    } else {
+      return null;
+    }
+  }
+
   render() {
     const { status, className, showThread } = this.props;
     if (!status) return null;
@@ -67,11 +89,7 @@ class PendingStatus extends ImmutablePureComponent {
               collapsable
             />
 
-            <AttachmentThumbs
-              compact
-              media={status.get('media_attachments')}
-            />
-
+            {this.renderMedia()}
             {status.get('poll') && <PollPreview poll={status.get('poll')} />}
 
             {showThread && status.get('in_reply_to_id') && status.get('in_reply_to_account_id') === status.getIn(['account', 'id']) && (
diff --git a/app/soapbox/utils/status.js b/app/soapbox/utils/status.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..48554ced9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/soapbox/utils/status.js
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+export const getFirstExternalLink = status => {
+  try {
+    // Pulled from Pleroma's media parser
+    const selector = 'a:not(.mention,.hashtag,.attachment,[rel~="tag"])';
+    const element = document.createElement('div');
+    element.innerHTML = status.content;
+    return element.querySelector(selector);
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+};
+
+export const shouldHaveCard = status => {
+  return Boolean(getFirstExternalLink(status));
+};
diff --git a/app/styles/placeholder.scss b/app/styles/placeholder.scss
index 0427e9463..8366261ac 100644
--- a/app/styles/placeholder.scss
+++ b/app/styles/placeholder.scss
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 .placeholder-status,
 .placeholder-hashtag,
-.notification--placeholder {
+.notification--placeholder,
+.status-card--placeholder {
   position: relative;
 
   &::before {
@@ -105,3 +106,16 @@
   background: transparent;
   box-shadow: none;
 }
+
+.status-card--placeholder {
+  pointer-events: none;
+
+  .status-card__title,
+  .status-card__description,
+  .status-card__host {
+    letter-spacing: -1px;
+    color: var(--brand-color) !important;
+    word-break: break-all;
+    opacity: 0.1;
+  }
+}