diff --git a/Libraries/Blob/RCTBlobManager.mm b/Libraries/Blob/RCTBlobManager.mm
index aa45072553d..2a7cdbab24d 100755
--- a/Libraries/Blob/RCTBlobManager.mm
+++ b/Libraries/Blob/RCTBlobManager.mm
@@ -260,6 +260,9 @@ RCT_EXPORT_METHOD(release:(NSString *)blobId)
 
 - (id)handleNetworkingResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response data:(NSData *)data
 {
+  // An empty body will have nil for data, in this case we need to return
+  // an empty blob as per the XMLHttpRequest spec.
+  data = data ?: [NSData new];
   return @{
     @"blobId": [self store:data],
     @"offset": @0,
diff --git a/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.mm b/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.mm
index 9e10791efc0..cd2076c88a7 100644
--- a/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.mm
+++ b/Libraries/Network/RCTNetworking.mm
@@ -441,10 +441,6 @@ RCT_EXPORT_MODULE()
 {
   RCTAssertThread(_methodQueue, @"sendData: must be called on method queue");
 
-  if (data.length == 0) {
-    return;
-  }
-
   id responseData = nil;
   for (id<RCTNetworkingResponseHandler> handler in _responseHandlers) {
     if ([handler canHandleNetworkingResponse:responseType]) {
@@ -454,6 +450,10 @@ RCT_EXPORT_MODULE()
   }
 
   if (!responseData) {
+    if (data.length == 0) {
+      return;
+    }
+
     if ([responseType isEqualToString:@"text"]) {
       // No carry storage is required here because the entire data has been loaded.
       responseData = [RCTNetworking decodeTextData:data fromResponse:task.response withCarryData:nil];