diff --git a/ghost/admin/lib/koenig-editor/addon/components/koenig-basic-html-textarea.js b/ghost/admin/lib/koenig-editor/addon/components/koenig-basic-html-textarea.js
index f4af123181..7451d15681 100644
--- a/ghost/admin/lib/koenig-editor/addon/components/koenig-basic-html-textarea.js
+++ b/ghost/admin/lib/koenig-editor/addon/components/koenig-basic-html-textarea.js
@@ -415,6 +415,10 @@ export default Component.extend({
     // inline markup that directly maps to HTML elements
     getCleanHTML() {
         if (this.editor && this.editor.element) {
+            if (this.editor.element.classList.contains('__has-no-content')) {
+                // Removes the default editor placeholder
+                return '';
+            }
             return cleanBasicHtml(this.editor.element.innerHTML, {allowBr: true});
         }
     }