diff --git a/app/services/post_alerter.rb b/app/services/post_alerter.rb
index 11ebd97faf5..2c63c65f083 100644
--- a/app/services/post_alerter.rb
+++ b/app/services/post_alerter.rb
@@ -522,7 +522,7 @@ class PostAlerter
 
   def notify_users(users, type, post, opts = {})
     users = [users] unless users.is_a?(Array)
-    users = users.reject { |u| u.staged? } if post.topic&.private_message?
+    users.reject!(&:staged?) if post.topic&.private_message?
 
     warn_if_not_sidekiq
 
diff --git a/lib/guardian/topic_guardian.rb b/lib/guardian/topic_guardian.rb
index 242cfbdb4d1..98c0ff1115e 100644
--- a/lib/guardian/topic_guardian.rb
+++ b/lib/guardian/topic_guardian.rb
@@ -142,7 +142,9 @@ module TopicGuardian
       return authenticated? && topic.all_allowed_users.where(id: @user.id).exists?
     end
 
-    can_see_category?(topic.category)
+    category = topic.category
+    can_see_category?(category) &&
+      (!category.read_restricted || !is_staged? || topic.user == user)
   end
 
   def can_see_topic_if_not_deleted?(topic)
diff --git a/spec/services/post_alerter_spec.rb b/spec/services/post_alerter_spec.rb
index 8db8dc02a7e..208e93f9266 100644
--- a/spec/services/post_alerter_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/post_alerter_spec.rb
@@ -257,6 +257,28 @@ describe PostAlerter do
       end
       expect(events).to include(event_name: :before_create_notifications_for_users, params: [[user], linking_post])
     end
+
+    it "doesn't notify the linked user if the user is staged and the category is restricted" do
+      staged_user = Fabricate(:staged)
+      group = Fabricate(:group)
+      group_member = Fabricate(:user)
+      group.add(group_member)
+
+      private_category = Fabricate(
+        :private_category, group: group,
+                           email_in: 'test@test.com', email_in_allow_strangers: true
+      )
+
+      staged_user_post = create_post(user: staged_user, category: private_category)
+
+      linking = create_post(
+        user: group_member,
+        category: private_category,
+        raw: "my magic topic\n##{Discourse.base_url}#{staged_user_post.url}")
+
+      staged_user.reload
+      expect(staged_user.notifications.where(notification_type: Notification.types[:linked]).count).to eq(0)
+    end
   end
 
   context '@group mentions' do