diff --git a/filebeat/docs/inputs/input-journald.asciidoc b/filebeat/docs/inputs/input-journald.asciidoc
index bbc4211b0c5..1eb161deef7 100644
--- a/filebeat/docs/inputs/input-journald.asciidoc
+++ b/filebeat/docs/inputs/input-journald.asciidoc
@@ -122,10 +122,8 @@ The position to start reading the journal from. Valid settings are:
 
 * `head`: Starts reading at the beginning of the journal. After a restart,
 {beatname_uc} resends all log messages in the journal.
-* `tail`: Starts reading at the end of the journal. After a restart,
-{beatname_uc} resends the last message, which might result in duplicates. If
-multiple log messages are written to a journal while {beatname_uc} is down,
-only the last log message is sent on restart.
+* `tail`: Starts reading at the end of the journal. This means that no events
+will be sent until a new message is written.
 * `cursor`: On first read, starts reading at the beginning of the journal. After
 a reload or restart, continues reading at the last known position.
 
@@ -133,6 +131,13 @@ If you have old log files and want to skip lines, start {beatname_uc} with
 `seek: tail` specified. Then stop {beatname_uc}, set `seek: cursor`, and restart
 {beatname_uc}.
 
+[float]
+[id="{beatname_lc}-input-{type}-cursor_seek_fallback"]
+==== `cursor_seek_fallback`
+
+The position to start reading the journal from if no cursor information is
+available. Valid options are `head` and `tail`.
+
 [float]
 [id="{beatname_lc}-input-{type}-units"]
 ==== `units`
diff --git a/filebeat/input/journald/input_filtering_test.go b/filebeat/input/journald/input_filtering_test.go
index 625104a491c..7724c6285fa 100644
--- a/filebeat/input/journald/input_filtering_test.go
+++ b/filebeat/input/journald/input_filtering_test.go
@@ -215,3 +215,79 @@ func TestInputIncludeMatches(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+// TestInputSeek test the output of various seek modes while reading
+// from input-multiline-parser.journal.
+func TestInputSeek(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := map[string]struct {
+		config           mapstr.M
+		expectedMessages []string
+	}{
+		"seek head": {
+			config: map[string]any{
+				"seek": "head",
+			},
+			expectedMessages: []string{
+				"pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root",
+				"Started Outputs some log lines.",
+				"1st line",
+				"2nd line",
+				"3rd line",
+				"4th line",
+				"5th line",
+				"6th line",
+			},
+		},
+		"seek tail": {
+			config: map[string]any{
+				"seek": "tail",
+			},
+			expectedMessages: nil, // No messages are expected for seek=tail.
+		},
+		"seek cursor": {
+			config: map[string]any{
+				"seek": "cursor",
+			},
+			expectedMessages: []string{
+				"pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root",
+				"Started Outputs some log lines.",
+				"1st line",
+				"2nd line",
+				"3rd line",
+				"4th line",
+				"5th line",
+				"6th line",
+			},
+		},
+		"seek cursor fallback": {
+			config: map[string]any{
+				"seek":                 "cursor",
+				"cursor_seek_fallback": "tail",
+			},
+			expectedMessages: nil, // No messages are expected because it will fall back to seek=tail.
+		},
+	}
+
+	for name, testCase := range tests {
+		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			env := newInputTestingEnvironment(t)
+			conf := mapstr.M{
+				"paths": []string{path.Join("testdata", "input-multiline-parser.journal")},
+			}
+			conf.DeepUpdate(testCase.config)
+			inp := env.mustCreateInput(conf)
+
+			ctx, cancelInput := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+			env.startInput(ctx, inp)
+			defer cancelInput()
+
+			env.waitUntilEventCount(len(testCase.expectedMessages))
+
+			for idx, event := range env.pipeline.GetAllEvents() {
+				if got, expected := event.Fields["message"], testCase.expectedMessages[idx]; got != expected {
+					t.Fatalf("expecting event message %q, got %q", expected, got)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}