diff --git a/pandas/io/common.py b/pandas/io/common.py
index f177e08ac0089..d5dac940a17ba 100644
--- a/pandas/io/common.py
+++ b/pandas/io/common.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import mmap
 import os
 import pathlib
+import re
 from typing import (
     IO,
     TYPE_CHECKING,
@@ -153,6 +154,16 @@ def urlopen(*args, **kwargs):
     return urllib.request.urlopen(*args, **kwargs)
 
 
+def is_json(url: FilePathOrBuffer) -> bool:
+    """
+    Returns true if the given string looks like
+    json
+    """
+    json_pattern = re.compile(r"^\s*[\[{]")
+    return json_pattern.match(url) is not None
+
+
+
 def is_fsspec_url(url: FilePathOrBuffer) -> bool:
     """
     Returns true if the given URL looks like
@@ -161,6 +172,7 @@ def is_fsspec_url(url: FilePathOrBuffer) -> bool:
     return (
         isinstance(url, str)
         and "://" in url
+        and not is_json(url)
         and not url.startswith(("http://", "https://"))
     )
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py
index 85a12a13d19fb..9d30a45fc893e 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py
@@ -417,3 +417,5 @@ def test_is_fsspec_url():
     assert not icom.is_fsspec_url("random:pandas/somethingelse.com")
     assert not icom.is_fsspec_url("/local/path")
     assert not icom.is_fsspec_url("relative/local/path")
+    # Ensure json string is not interpreted as URL
+    assert not icom.is_fsspec_url('{"json": "text ://"}')