diff --git a/closure/goog/string/BUILD b/closure/goog/string/BUILD
index 8f9e77ec28..0a244d4b0e 100644
--- a/closure/goog/string/BUILD
+++ b/closure/goog/string/BUILD
@@ -22,8 +22,10 @@ closure_js_library(
     name = "linkify",
     srcs = ["linkify.js"],
     deps = [
+        ":const",
         ":string",
         "//closure/goog/html:safehtml",
+        "//closure/goog/html:uncheckedconversions",
     ],
 )
 
diff --git a/closure/goog/string/linkify.js b/closure/goog/string/linkify.js
index c9fb966bfd..be2e5e4dce 100644
--- a/closure/goog/string/linkify.js
+++ b/closure/goog/string/linkify.js
@@ -11,7 +11,9 @@
 goog.provide('goog.string.linkify');
 
 goog.require('goog.html.SafeHtml');
+goog.require('goog.html.uncheckedconversions');
 goog.require('goog.string');
+goog.require('goog.string.Const');
 
 
 /**
@@ -26,21 +28,53 @@ goog.require('goog.string');
  *     target=''.
  * @param {boolean=} opt_preserveNewlines Whether to preserve newlines with
  *     <br>.
+ * @param {boolean=} opt_preserveSpacesAndTabs Whether to preserve spaces with
+ *     non-breaking spaces and tabs with <span style="white-space:pre">
  * @return {!goog.html.SafeHtml} Linkified HTML. Any text that is not part of a
  *      link will be HTML-escaped.
  */
 goog.string.linkify.linkifyPlainTextAsHtml = function(
-    text, opt_attributes, opt_preserveNewlines) {
+    text, opt_attributes, opt_preserveNewlines, opt_preserveSpacesAndTabs) {
   'use strict';
+
+  /**
+   * @param {string} plainText
+   * @return {!goog.html.SafeHtml} html
+   */
+  const htmlEscape = function(plainText) {
+    if (opt_preserveSpacesAndTabs) {
+      const html = goog.html.SafeHtml.htmlEscape(plainText);
+      let modifiedHtml =
+          goog.html.SafeHtml
+              .unwrap(html)
+              // Leading space is converted into a non-breaking space, and
+              // spaces following whitespace are converted into non-breaking
+              // spaces. This must happen first, to ensure we preserve spaces
+              // after newlines.
+              .replace(/(^|[\n\r\t\ ])\ /g, '$1&#160;')
+              // Preserve tabs by using style="white-space:pre"
+              .replace(/(\t+)/g, '<span style="white-space:pre">$1</span>');
+      if (opt_preserveNewlines) {
+        modifiedHtml = goog.string.newLineToBr(modifiedHtml);
+      }
+      return goog.html.uncheckedconversions
+          .safeHtmlFromStringKnownToSatisfyTypeContract(
+              goog.string.Const.from('Escaped plain text'), modifiedHtml,
+              html.getDirection());
+    } else if (opt_preserveNewlines) {
+      return goog.html.SafeHtml.htmlEscapePreservingNewlines(plainText);
+    } else {
+      return goog.html.SafeHtml.htmlEscape(plainText);
+    }
+  };
+
   // This shortcut makes linkifyPlainText ~10x faster if text doesn't contain
   // URLs or email addresses and adds insignificant performance penalty if it
   // does.
   if (text.indexOf('@') == -1 && text.indexOf('://') == -1 &&
       text.indexOf('www.') == -1 && text.indexOf('Www.') == -1 &&
       text.indexOf('WWW.') == -1) {
-    return opt_preserveNewlines ?
-        goog.html.SafeHtml.htmlEscapePreservingNewlines(text) :
-        goog.html.SafeHtml.htmlEscape(text);
+    return htmlEscape(text);
   }
 
   const attributesMap = {};
@@ -66,10 +100,7 @@ goog.string.linkify.linkifyPlainTextAsHtml = function(
       goog.string.linkify.FIND_LINKS_RE_,
       function(part, before, original, email, protocol) {
         'use strict';
-        output.push(
-            opt_preserveNewlines ?
-                goog.html.SafeHtml.htmlEscapePreservingNewlines(before) :
-                before);
+        output.push(htmlEscape(before));
         if (!original) {
           return '';
         }
@@ -123,10 +154,7 @@ goog.string.linkify.linkifyPlainTextAsHtml = function(
         }
         attributesMap['href'] = href + linkText;
         output.push(goog.html.SafeHtml.create('a', attributesMap, linkText));
-        output.push(
-            opt_preserveNewlines ?
-                goog.html.SafeHtml.htmlEscapePreservingNewlines(afterLink) :
-                afterLink);
+        output.push(htmlEscape(afterLink));
         return '';
       });
   return goog.html.SafeHtml.concat(output);
@@ -225,9 +253,10 @@ goog.string.linkify.WWW_START_ = 'www\\.';
  * @const
  * @private
  */
-goog.string.linkify.URL_RE_STRING_ = '(?:' +
-    goog.string.linkify.PROTOCOL_START_ + '|' + goog.string.linkify.WWW_START_ +
-    ')[' + goog.string.linkify.ACCEPTABLE_URL_CHARS_ + ']+';
+goog.string.linkify.URL_RE_STRING_ =
+    '(?:' + goog.string.linkify.PROTOCOL_START_ + '|' +
+    goog.string.linkify.WWW_START_ + ')[' +
+    goog.string.linkify.ACCEPTABLE_URL_CHARS_ + ']+';
 
 
 /**
diff --git a/closure/goog/string/linkify_test.js b/closure/goog/string/linkify_test.js
index e4c47e86f5..eb4543cab0 100644
--- a/closure/goog/string/linkify_test.js
+++ b/closure/goog/string/linkify_test.js
@@ -19,11 +19,17 @@ const testingDom = goog.require('goog.testing.dom');
 /** @type {!HTMLDivElement} */
 const div = dom.createElement(TagName.DIV);
 
-function assertLinkify(comment, input, expected, preserveNewlines = undefined) {
+/**
+ * @private
+ */
+function assertLinkify(
+    comment, input, expected, preserveNewlines = undefined,
+    preserveSpacesAndTabs = undefined) {
   assertEquals(
       comment, expected,
       SafeHtml.unwrap(linkify.linkifyPlainTextAsHtml(
-          input, {rel: '', target: ''}, preserveNewlines)));
+          input, {rel: '', target: ''}, preserveNewlines,
+          preserveSpacesAndTabs)));
 }
 
 testSuite({
@@ -557,4 +563,50 @@ testSuite({
         'Line 1<br>Line 2',
         /* preserveNewlines */ true);
   },
+
+  testPreserveSpacesAndTabs() {
+    assertLinkify(
+        'Preserving spaces', ' Example:\n http://www.google.com/ ',
+        '&#160;Example:\n&#160;<a href="http://www.google.com/">http://www.google.com/<\/a>&#160;',
+        /* preserveNewlines */ false,
+        /* preserveSpacesAndTabs */ true);
+    assertLinkify(
+        'Preserving spaces with no links', ' Line 1\n  Line 2 ',
+        '&#160;Line 1\n&#160; Line 2 ',
+        /* preserveNewlines */ false,
+        /* preserveSpacesAndTabs */ true);
+    assertLinkify(
+        'Preserving tabs', 'Example:\thttp://www.google.com/',
+        'Example:<span style="white-space:pre">\t</span><a href="http://www.google.com/">http://www.google.com/<\/a>',
+        /* preserveNewlines */ false,
+        /* preserveSpacesAndTabs */ true);
+    assertLinkify(
+        'Preserving tabs with no links', 'Column 1\t\tColumn 2',
+        'Column 1<span style="white-space:pre">\t\t</span>Column 2',
+        /* preserveNewlines */ false,
+        /* preserveSpacesAndTabs */ true);
+  },
+
+  testPreserveNewlinesSpacesAndTabs() {
+    assertLinkify(
+        'Preserving spaces', ' Example:\n http://www.google.com/ ',
+        '&#160;Example:<br>&#160;<a href="http://www.google.com/">http://www.google.com/<\/a>&#160;',
+        /* preserveNewlines */ true,
+        /* preserveSpacesAndTabs */ true);
+    assertLinkify(
+        'Preserving spaces with no links', ' Line 1\n  Line 2 ',
+        '&#160;Line 1<br>&#160; Line 2 ',
+        /* preserveNewlines */ true,
+        /* preserveSpacesAndTabs */ true);
+    assertLinkify(
+        'Preserving tabs', 'Example:\n\thttp://www.google.com/',
+        'Example:<br><span style="white-space:pre">\t</span><a href="http://www.google.com/">http://www.google.com/<\/a>',
+        /* preserveNewlines */ true,
+        /* preserveSpacesAndTabs */ true);
+    assertLinkify(
+        'Preserving tabs with no links', 'Line 1\n\t\tLine 2',
+        'Line 1<br><span style="white-space:pre">\t\t</span>Line 2',
+        /* preserveNewlines */ true,
+        /* preserveSpacesAndTabs */ true);
+  },
 });