diff --git a/changelog.d/13657.bugfix b/changelog.d/13657.bugfix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d314d9c52fa06b6883169f674d7388b9e3e498e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/13657.bugfix
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix a long-standing bug that downloaded media for URL previews was not deleted while database background updates were running.
diff --git a/synapse/rest/media/v1/preview_url_resource.py b/synapse/rest/media/v1/preview_url_resource.py
index b36c98a08ea32dd0b16ac6835995b05c1fe0bc6c..a8f6fd6b357852c94c6b34382e416528d50012d2 100644
--- a/synapse/rest/media/v1/preview_url_resource.py
+++ b/synapse/rest/media/v1/preview_url_resource.py
@@ -732,10 +732,6 @@ class PreviewUrlResource(DirectServeJsonResource):
 
         logger.debug("Running url preview cache expiry")
 
-        if not (await self.store.db_pool.updates.has_completed_background_updates()):
-            logger.debug("Still running DB updates; skipping url preview cache expiry")
-            return
-
         def try_remove_parent_dirs(dirs: Iterable[str]) -> None:
             """Attempt to remove the given chain of parent directories