diff --git a/doc/release-notes.md b/doc/release-notes.md
index d3ba067657e..2044a50098e 100644
--- a/doc/release-notes.md
+++ b/doc/release-notes.md
@@ -59,6 +59,16 @@ support versions of macOS older than 10.10.
 Notable changes
 ===============
 
+Command line option changes
+---------------------------
+
+The `-enablebip61` command line option (introduced in Bitcoin Core 0.17.0) is
+used to toggle sending of BIP 61 reject messages. Reject messages have no use
+case on the P2P network and are only logged for debugging by most network
+nodes. The option will now by default be off for improved privacy and security
+as well as reduced upload usage. The option can explicitly be turned on for
+local-network debugging purposes.
+
 Example item
 ------------
 
diff --git a/src/net_processing.h b/src/net_processing.h
index f16d00032ea..496c3c7b0d2 100644
--- a/src/net_processing.h
+++ b/src/net_processing.h
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ static const unsigned int DEFAULT_MAX_ORPHAN_TRANSACTIONS = 100;
 /** Default number of orphan+recently-replaced txn to keep around for block reconstruction */
 static const unsigned int DEFAULT_BLOCK_RECONSTRUCTION_EXTRA_TXN = 100;
 /** Default for BIP61 (sending reject messages) */
-static constexpr bool DEFAULT_ENABLE_BIP61 = true;
+static constexpr bool DEFAULT_ENABLE_BIP61{false};
 
 class PeerLogicValidation final : public CValidationInterface, public NetEventsInterface {
 private: