diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/composer.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/composer.js.es6
index 659568377db..79ed585bbd4 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/composer.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/composer.js.es6
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ const Composer = RestModel.extend({
   @computed('minimumPostLength', 'replyLength', 'canEditTopicFeaturedLink')
   missingReplyCharacters(minimumPostLength, replyLength, canEditTopicFeaturedLink) {
     if (this.get('post.post_type') === this.site.get('post_types.small_action') ||
-        canEditTopicFeaturedLink && this.siteSettings.topic_featured_link_onebox) { return 0; }
+        canEditTopicFeaturedLink && this.get('featuredLink')) { return 0; }
     return minimumPostLength - replyLength;
   },
 
@@ -509,9 +509,7 @@ const Composer = RestModel.extend({
     if (!this.get('cantSubmitPost')) {
 
       // change category may result in some effect for topic featured link
-      if (this.get('canEditTopicFeaturedLink')) {
-        if (this.siteSettings.topic_featured_link_onebox) { this.set('reply', null); }
-      } else {
+      if (!this.get('canEditTopicFeaturedLink')) {
         this.set('featuredLink', null);
       }
 
diff --git a/lib/validators/post_validator.rb b/lib/validators/post_validator.rb
index 30e68bafad7..a1836eb8f3e 100644
--- a/lib/validators/post_validator.rb
+++ b/lib/validators/post_validator.rb
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ class Validators::PostValidator < ActiveModel::Validator
       SiteSetting.private_message_post_length
     elsif post.is_first_post? || (post.topic.present? && post.topic.posts_count == 0)
       # creating/editing first post
-      SiteSetting.first_post_length
+      post.topic&.featured_link&.present? ? (0..SiteSetting.max_post_length) : SiteSetting.first_post_length
     else
       # regular post
       SiteSetting.post_length
diff --git a/spec/components/post_creator_spec.rb b/spec/components/post_creator_spec.rb
index 1b56b8a7204..b6fe3fb6606 100644
--- a/spec/components/post_creator_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/components/post_creator_spec.rb
@@ -246,8 +246,10 @@ describe PostCreator do
 
       it 'creates a post with featured link' do
         SiteSetting.topic_featured_link_enabled = true
+        SiteSetting.min_first_post_length = 100
         post = creator_with_featured_link.create
         expect(post.topic.featured_link).to eq('http://www.discourse.org')
+        expect(post.valid?).to eq(true)
       end
 
       describe "topic's auto close" do
diff --git a/test/javascripts/models/composer-test.js.es6 b/test/javascripts/models/composer-test.js.es6
index a79bb85a6d1..86208aa5843 100644
--- a/test/javascripts/models/composer-test.js.es6
+++ b/test/javascripts/models/composer-test.js.es6
@@ -41,9 +41,10 @@ test('missingReplyCharacters', function() {
   missingReplyCharacters('hi', false, true,  Discourse.SiteSettings.min_first_post_length - 2, 'too short first post');
   missingReplyCharacters('hi', true, false,  Discourse.SiteSettings.min_private_message_post_length - 2, 'too short private message');
 
-  // TODO: test that presence of featured link makes this test pass
-  // const composer = createComposer({ canEditTopicFeaturedLink: true });
-  // equal(composer.get('missingReplyCharacters'), 0, "don't require any post content");
+  const link = "http://imgur.com/gallery/grxX8";
+  const composer = createComposer({ canEditTopicFeaturedLink: true, title: link, featuredLink: link, reply: link });
+
+  equal(composer.get('missingReplyCharacters'), 0, "don't require any post content");
 });
 
 test('missingTitleCharacters', function() {