diff --git a/ddtrace/internal/opentelemetry/span.py b/ddtrace/internal/opentelemetry/span.py
index 321368d0d81..87fff1869f5 100644
--- a/ddtrace/internal/opentelemetry/span.py
+++ b/ddtrace/internal/opentelemetry/span.py
@@ -259,16 +259,17 @@ def record_exception(self, exception, attributes=None, timestamp=None, escaped=F
             attrs.update(attributes)
 
         # Set the error type, error message and error stacktrace tags on the span
-        self._ddspan._meta[ERROR_MSG] = attrs["exception.message"]
-        self._ddspan._meta[ERROR_TYPE] = attrs["exception.type"]
-        if "exception.stacktrace" in attrs:
-            self._ddspan._meta[ERROR_STACK] = attrs["exception.stacktrace"]
-        else:
-            self._ddspan._meta[ERROR_STACK] = "".join(
-                traceback.format_exception(
-                    type(exception), exception, exception.__traceback__, limit=config._span_traceback_max_size
+        if escaped:
+            self._ddspan._meta[ERROR_MSG] = attrs["exception.message"]
+            self._ddspan._meta[ERROR_TYPE] = attrs["exception.type"]
+            if "exception.stacktrace" in attrs:
+                self._ddspan._meta[ERROR_STACK] = attrs["exception.stacktrace"]
+            else:
+                self._ddspan._meta[ERROR_STACK] = "".join(
+                    traceback.format_exception(
+                        type(exception), exception, exception.__traceback__, limit=config._span_traceback_max_size
+                    )
                 )
-            )
         self.add_event(name="exception", attributes=attrs, timestamp=timestamp)
 
     def __enter__(self):
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/fix-otel-record-exception-api-17f3a4b23948ec79.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/fix-otel-record-exception-api-17f3a4b23948ec79.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ec09758ea79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/fix-otel-record-exception-api-17f3a4b23948ec79.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    opentelemetry: Ensures ``Span.record_exception(...)`` sets the span error metadata only if escaped is True.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/snapshots/tests.opentelemetry.test_trace.test_otel_start_span_record_exception.json b/tests/snapshots/tests.opentelemetry.test_trace.test_otel_start_span_record_exception.json
index a98e078f41f..db978e7306d 100644
--- a/tests/snapshots/tests.opentelemetry.test_trace.test_otel_start_span_record_exception.json
+++ b/tests/snapshots/tests.opentelemetry.test_trace.test_otel_start_span_record_exception.json
@@ -40,9 +40,6 @@
     "meta": {
       "_dd.p.dm": "-0",
       "_dd.p.tid": "6658897400000000",
-      "error.message": "MoonEar Fire!!!",
-      "error.stack": "Fake traceback",
-      "error.type": "RandoException",
       "events": "[{\"name\": \"exception\", \"time_unix_nano\": 1716560281337739000, \"attributes\": {\"exception.type\": \"builtins.IndexError\", \"exception.message\": \"Invalid Operation 2\", \"exception.escaped\": \"False\", \"exception.stuff\": \"thing 2\"}}, {\"name\": \"exception\", \"time_unix_nano\": 1716560271237812000, \"attributes\": {\"exception.type\": \"RandoException\", \"exception.message\": \"MoonEar Fire!!!\", \"exception.escaped\": \"False\", \"exception.stacktrace\": \"Fake traceback\", \"exception.details\": \"This is FAKE, I overwrote the real exception details\"}}]",
       "language": "python",
       "runtime-id": "d0950ce7bda6498183acde9036abb131"