diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Formatters.Json/JsonOutputFormatter.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Formatters.Json/JsonOutputFormatter.cs
index 8ecdebb2e7..744d558680 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Formatters.Json/JsonOutputFormatter.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Formatters.Json/JsonOutputFormatter.cs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 using System;
 using System.Buffers;
+using System.ComponentModel;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Text;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
@@ -62,6 +63,16 @@ public JsonOutputFormatter(JsonSerializerSettings serializerSettings, ArrayPool<
         /// </remarks>
         protected JsonSerializerSettings SerializerSettings { get; }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Gets the <see cref="JsonSerializerSettings"/> used to configure the <see cref="JsonSerializer"/>.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <remarks>
+        /// Any modifications to the <see cref="JsonSerializerSettings"/> object after this
+        /// <see cref="JsonOutputFormatter"/> has been used will have no effect.
+        /// </remarks>
+        [EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Never)]
+        public JsonSerializerSettings PublicSerializerSettings => SerializerSettings;
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Writes the given <paramref name="value"/> as JSON using the given
         /// <paramref name="writer"/>.
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures/ViewFeatures/JsonHelper.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures/ViewFeatures/JsonHelper.cs
index 4fcdfc3579..bda3a50784 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures/ViewFeatures/JsonHelper.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures/ViewFeatures/JsonHelper.cs
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures
     /// </summary>
     public class JsonHelper : IJsonHelper
     {
+        private const string AllowJsonHtml = "Switch.Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.AllowJsonHtml";
         private readonly JsonOutputFormatter _jsonOutputFormatter;
         private readonly ArrayPool<char> _charPool;
 
@@ -46,7 +47,15 @@ public JsonHelper(JsonOutputFormatter jsonOutputFormatter, ArrayPool<char> charP
         /// <inheritdoc />
         public IHtmlContent Serialize(object value)
         {
-            return SerializeInternal(_jsonOutputFormatter, value);
+            if (AppContext.TryGetSwitch(AllowJsonHtml, out var allowJsonHtml) && allowJsonHtml)
+            {
+                return SerializeInternal(_jsonOutputFormatter, value);
+            }
+
+            var settings = ShallowCopy(_jsonOutputFormatter.PublicSerializerSettings);
+            settings.StringEscapeHandling = StringEscapeHandling.EscapeHtml;
+
+            return Serialize(value, settings);
         }
 
         /// <inheritdoc />
@@ -69,5 +78,42 @@ private IHtmlContent SerializeInternal(JsonOutputFormatter jsonOutputFormatter,
 
             return new HtmlString(stringWriter.ToString());
         }
+
+        private static JsonSerializerSettings ShallowCopy(JsonSerializerSettings settings)
+        {
+            var copiedSettings = new JsonSerializerSettings
+            {
+                FloatParseHandling = settings.FloatParseHandling,
+                FloatFormatHandling = settings.FloatFormatHandling,
+                DateParseHandling = settings.DateParseHandling,
+                DateTimeZoneHandling = settings.DateTimeZoneHandling,
+                DateFormatHandling = settings.DateFormatHandling,
+                Formatting = settings.Formatting,
+                MaxDepth = settings.MaxDepth,
+                DateFormatString = settings.DateFormatString,
+                Context = settings.Context,
+                Error = settings.Error,
+                SerializationBinder = settings.SerializationBinder,
+                TraceWriter = settings.TraceWriter,
+                Culture = settings.Culture,
+                ReferenceResolverProvider = settings.ReferenceResolverProvider,
+                EqualityComparer = settings.EqualityComparer,
+                ContractResolver = settings.ContractResolver,
+                ConstructorHandling = settings.ConstructorHandling,
+                TypeNameAssemblyFormatHandling = settings.TypeNameAssemblyFormatHandling,
+                MetadataPropertyHandling = settings.MetadataPropertyHandling,
+                TypeNameHandling = settings.TypeNameHandling,
+                PreserveReferencesHandling = settings.PreserveReferencesHandling,
+                Converters = settings.Converters,
+                DefaultValueHandling = settings.DefaultValueHandling,
+                NullValueHandling = settings.NullValueHandling,
+                ObjectCreationHandling = settings.ObjectCreationHandling,
+                MissingMemberHandling = settings.MissingMemberHandling,
+                ReferenceLoopHandling = settings.ReferenceLoopHandling,
+                CheckAdditionalContent = settings.CheckAdditionalContent,
+            };
+
+            return copiedSettings;
+        }
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.FunctionalTests/BasicTests.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.FunctionalTests/BasicTests.cs
index 60697caf63..21829b3937 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.FunctionalTests/BasicTests.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.FunctionalTests/BasicTests.cs
@@ -245,12 +245,10 @@ public async Task ActionWithRequireHttps_AllowsHttpsRequests(string method)
         public async Task JsonHelper_RendersJson_WithCamelCaseNames()
         {
             // Arrange
-            var json = "{\"id\":9000,\"fullName\":\"John <b>Smith</b>\"}";
-            var expectedBody = string.Format(
-                @"<script type=""text/javascript"">
-    var json = {0};
-</script>",
-                json);
+            var expectedBody =
+@"<script type=""text/javascript"">
+    var json = {""id"":9000,""fullName"":""John \u003cb\u003eSmith\u003c/b\u003e""};
+</script>";
 
             // Act
             var response = await Client.GetAsync("Home/JsonHelperInView");
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures.Test/ViewFeatures/JsonHelperTest.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures.Test/ViewFeatures/JsonHelperTest.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bcc3e4b538
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures.Test/ViewFeatures/JsonHelperTest.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+// Copyright (c) .NET Foundation. All rights reserved.
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
+
+using System.Buffers;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Html;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Formatters;
+using Newtonsoft.Json;
+using Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization;
+using Xunit;
+
+namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures
+{
+    public class JsonHelperTest
+    {
+        [Fact]
+        public void Serialize_EscapesHtmlByDefault()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var settings = new JsonSerializerSettings()
+            {
+                StringEscapeHandling = StringEscapeHandling.EscapeNonAscii,
+            };
+            var helper = new JsonHelper(
+                new JsonOutputFormatter(settings, ArrayPool<char>.Shared),
+                ArrayPool<char>.Shared);
+            var obj = new
+            {
+                HTML = "<b>John Doe</b>"
+            };
+            var expectedOutput = "{\"HTML\":\"\\u003cb\\u003eJohn Doe\\u003c/b\\u003e\"}";
+
+            // Act
+            var result = helper.Serialize(obj);
+
+            // Assert
+            var htmlString = Assert.IsType<HtmlString>(result);
+            Assert.Equal(expectedOutput, htmlString.ToString());
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public void Serialize_MaintainsSettingsAndEscapesHtml()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var settings = new JsonSerializerSettings()
+            {
+                ContractResolver = new DefaultContractResolver
+                {
+                    NamingStrategy = new CamelCaseNamingStrategy(),
+                },
+            };
+            var helper = new JsonHelper(
+                new JsonOutputFormatter(settings, ArrayPool<char>.Shared),
+                ArrayPool<char>.Shared);
+            var obj = new
+            {
+                FullHtml = "<b>John Doe</b>"
+            };
+            var expectedOutput = "{\"fullHtml\":\"\\u003cb\\u003eJohn Doe\\u003c/b\\u003e\"}";
+
+            // Act
+            var result = helper.Serialize(obj);
+
+            // Assert
+            var htmlString = Assert.IsType<HtmlString>(result);
+            Assert.Equal(expectedOutput, htmlString.ToString());
+        }
+    }
+}