diff --git a/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/features/compose/components/character_counter.js b/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/features/compose/components/character_counter.js
index 0ecfc9141..215048d7e 100644
--- a/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/features/compose/components/character_counter.js
+++ b/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/features/compose/components/character_counter.js
@@ -7,10 +7,14 @@ export default class CharacterCounter extends React.PureComponent {
   static propTypes = {
     text: PropTypes.string.isRequired,
     max: PropTypes.number.isRequired,
+    no_limit: PropTypes.bool.isRequired,
   };
 
   checkRemainingText (diff) {
-    if (diff < 0) {
+    if (this.props.no_limit) {
+      return <span className='character-counter'>∞</span>;
+    }
+    else if (diff < 0) {
       return <span className='character-counter character-counter--over'>{diff}</span>;
     }
 
diff --git a/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/features/compose/components/compose_form.js b/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/features/compose/components/compose_form.js
index a4aade62e..b20b6bc47 100644
--- a/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/features/compose/components/compose_form.js
+++ b/app/javascript/flavours/glitch/features/compose/components/compose_form.js
@@ -294,7 +294,8 @@ class ComposeForm extends ImmutablePureComponent {
 
     let disabledButton = isSubmitting || isUploading || isChangingUpload || (!text.trim().length && !anyMedia);
 
-    const countText = `${spoilerText}${countableText(text)}${advancedOptions && advancedOptions.get('do_not_federate') ? ' 🐺' : ''}`;
+    const countText=spoilerText ? '∞' : `${spoilerText}${countableText(text)}${advancedOptions && advancedOptions.get('do_not_federate') ? ' 🐺': ''}`;
+    const no_limit = spoilerText != '';
 
     return (
       <div className='composer'>
@@ -357,7 +358,7 @@ class ComposeForm extends ImmutablePureComponent {
             spoiler={spoilersAlwaysOn ? (spoilerText && spoilerText.length > 0) : spoiler}
           />
           <div className='compose--counter-wrapper'>
-            <CharacterCounter text={countText} max={maxChars} />
+            <CharacterCounter text={countText} max={maxChars} no_limit={no_limit} />
           </div>
         </div>
 
diff --git a/app/validators/status_length_validator.rb b/app/validators/status_length_validator.rb
index 92ee5e643..9f4c8c662 100644
--- a/app/validators/status_length_validator.rb
+++ b/app/validators/status_length_validator.rb
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ class StatusLengthValidator < ActiveModel::Validator
   MAX_CHARS = (ENV['MAX_TOOT_CHARS'] || 500).to_i
 
   def validate(status)
+    status.errors.add(:text, "hard limit of 16k exceeded") if status.text.length > 16384
+    status.errors.add(:text, "CW can't be longer than 500 characters") if status.spoiler_text.length > 500
+    return unless status.spoiler_text.blank?
     return unless status.local? && !status.reblog?
 
     @status = status