diff --git a/src/cmd/link/internal/loader/loader.go b/src/cmd/link/internal/loader/loader.go
index e4b8098a8a..7736ba9771 100644
--- a/src/cmd/link/internal/loader/loader.go
+++ b/src/cmd/link/internal/loader/loader.go
@@ -2347,12 +2347,6 @@ func (l *Loader) ExtractSymbols(syms *sym.Symbols) {
 		i := l.Lookup(name, ver)
 		return l.Syms[i]
 	}
-	syms.Newsym = func(name string, ver int) *sym.Symbol {
-		i := l.newExtSym(name, ver)
-		s := l.allocSym(name, ver)
-		l.installSym(i, s)
-		return s
-	}
 }
 
 // allocSym allocates a new symbol backing.
diff --git a/src/cmd/link/internal/sym/symbols.go b/src/cmd/link/internal/sym/symbols.go
index 0d7b7e6a46..ff139fedff 100644
--- a/src/cmd/link/internal/sym/symbols.go
+++ b/src/cmd/link/internal/sym/symbols.go
@@ -43,11 +43,6 @@ type Symbols struct {
 	// Look up the symbol with the given name and version, returning nil
 	// if it is not found.
 	ROLookup func(name string, v int) *Symbol
-
-	// Create a symbol with the given name and version. The new symbol
-	// is not added to the lookup table and is not dedup'd with existing
-	// symbols (if any).
-	Newsym func(name string, v int) *Symbol
 }
 
 func NewSymbols() *Symbols {