diff --git a/bookwyrm/sanitize_html.py b/bookwyrm/sanitize_html.py
index 8b0e3c4c..4edd2818 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/sanitize_html.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/sanitize_html.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ class InputHtmlParser(HTMLParser):  # pylint: disable=abstract-method
             "ol",
             "li",
         ]
+        self.allowed_attrs = ["href", "rel", "src", "alt"]
         self.tag_stack = []
         self.output = []
         # if the html appears invalid, we just won't allow any at all
@@ -30,7 +31,14 @@ class InputHtmlParser(HTMLParser):  # pylint: disable=abstract-method
     def handle_starttag(self, tag, attrs):
         """check if the tag is valid"""
         if self.allow_html and tag in self.allowed_tags:
-            self.output.append(("tag", self.get_starttag_text()))
+            allowed_attrs = " ".join(
+                f'{a}="{v}"' for a, v in attrs if a in self.allowed_attrs
+            )
+            reconstructed = f"<{tag}"
+            if allowed_attrs:
+                reconstructed += " " + allowed_attrs
+            reconstructed += ">"
+            self.output.append(("tag", reconstructed))
             self.tag_stack.append(tag)
         else:
             self.output.append(("data", ""))
diff --git a/bookwyrm/tests/test_sanitize_html.py b/bookwyrm/tests/test_sanitize_html.py
index 6c405348..5814f220 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/tests/test_sanitize_html.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/tests/test_sanitize_html.py
@@ -24,13 +24,21 @@ class Sanitizer(TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(input_text, output)
 
     def test_valid_html_attrs(self):
-        """and don't remove attributes"""
+        """and don't remove useful attributes"""
         input_text = '<a href="fish.com">yes    </a> <i>html</i>'
         parser = InputHtmlParser()
         parser.feed(input_text)
         output = parser.get_output()
         self.assertEqual(input_text, output)
 
+    def test_valid_html_invalid_attrs(self):
+        """do remove un-approved attributes"""
+        input_text = '<a href="fish.com" fish="hello">yes    </a> <i>html</i>'
+        parser = InputHtmlParser()
+        parser.feed(input_text)
+        output = parser.get_output()
+        self.assertEqual(output, '<a href="fish.com">yes    </a> <i>html</i>')
+
     def test_invalid_html(self):
         """remove all html when the html is malformed"""
         input_text = "<b>yes  <i>html</i>"