SharePoint Online anchor links opening in a new tab

Hi,

I have some sites with different entries where I use images. 

With the default image, when clicking on it it would normally expand it; to prevent this I used to link the image to a anchor link (headings) so if you clicked on the picture, it would remain on the line as it would try to open the anchor link on the same page.

This was true until recently; now when clicking on an image linked to an anchor link, it now opens a new tab with the same page.

Is there a way to stop this, so a click on the image would be redirected to the anchor on the same tab?

As I understand, the behavior to open "internal" links is to open in the same page, and "external" links to open in a separate tab. I would consider this anchor link as internal, right?

I'm experiencing this in Microsoft Edge Version 93.0.961.38 as well as other browsers.

Link to heading used as anchor link for an image

This now opens as an external link in a new  tab

Thanks