diff --git src/wp-includes/widgets/class-wp-widget-custom-html.php src/wp-includes/widgets/class-wp-widget-custom-html.php
index 93fb579..5d2b28a 100644
--- src/wp-includes/widgets/class-wp-widget-custom-html.php
+++ src/wp-includes/widgets/class-wp-widget-custom-html.php
@@ -143,9 +143,6 @@ class WP_Widget_Custom_HTML extends WP_Widget {
 		/** This filter is documented in wp-includes/widgets/class-wp-widget-text.php */
 		$content = apply_filters( 'widget_text', $instance['content'], $simulated_text_widget_instance, $this );
 
-		// Adds noreferrer and noopener relationships, without duplicating values, to all HTML A elements that have a target.
-		$content = wp_targeted_link_rel( $content );
-
 		/**
 		 * Filters the content of the Custom HTML widget.
 		 *
diff --git tests/phpunit/tests/widgets/custom-html-widget.php tests/phpunit/tests/widgets/custom-html-widget.php
index 3a31a7d..9878c11 100644
--- tests/phpunit/tests/widgets/custom-html-widget.php
+++ tests/phpunit/tests/widgets/custom-html-widget.php
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ class Test_WP_Widget_Custom_HTML extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Ensure that rel="noopener noreferrer" is added to links with a target.
+	 * Ensure that rel="noopener noreferrer" is not added to links with a target.
 	 *
 	 * @ticket 46421
 	 */
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ class Test_WP_Widget_Custom_HTML extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 		);
 
 		$output = get_echo( array( $widget, 'widget' ), array( $args, $instance ) );
-		$this->assertContains( 'rel="noopener noreferrer"', $output );
+		$this->assertNotContains( 'rel="noopener noreferrer"', $output );
 	}
 
 	/**