diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 96b0f65b80..dbac0a777b 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # ggplot2 (development version)
 
+* `position_stack()` no longer silently removes missing data, which is now
+  handled by the geom instead of position (#3532).
+
 * Legend keys that can draw arrows have their size adjusted for arrows.
 
 * The `trans` argument in scales and secondary axes has been renamed to 
diff --git a/R/position-stack.R b/R/position-stack.R
index 2aacb638bb..ac445be071 100644
--- a/R/position-stack.R
+++ b/R/position-stack.R
@@ -175,11 +175,10 @@ PositionStack <- ggproto("PositionStack", Position,
       ymax = as.numeric(ifelse(data$ymax == 0, data$ymin, data$ymax))
     )
 
-    data <- remove_missing(
-      data,
-      vars = c("x", "xmin", "xmax", "y"),
-      name = "position_stack"
-    )
+    vars <- intersect(c("x", "xmin", "xmax", "y"), names(data))
+    missing <- detect_missing(data, vars)
+    data[missing, vars] <- NA
+
     flip_data(data, params$flipped_aes)
   },
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-geom-col.R b/tests/testthat/test-geom-col.R
index 456f03142f..17c61064d9 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-geom-col.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-geom-col.R
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ test_that("geom_col removes columns with parts outside the plot limits", {
     ggplotGrob(p + ylim(0.5, 4)),
     "Removed 3 rows containing missing values or values outside the scale range"
   )
-  expect_warning( # warning created at build stage
-    ggplot_build(p + ylim(0, 2.5)),
+  expect_warning( # warning created at render stage
+    ggplotGrob(p + ylim(0, 2.5)),
     "Removed 1 row containing missing values or values outside the scale range"
   )
 })
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-scales.R b/tests/testthat/test-scales.R
index 4893caceb4..25c8cc58f9 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-scales.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-scales.R
@@ -111,10 +111,14 @@ test_that("oob affects position values", {
   }
   base + scale_y_continuous(limits = c(-0,5))
 
-  expect_warning(low_censor <- cdata(base + y_scale(c(0, 5), censor)),
+  low_censor <- cdata(base + y_scale(c(0, 5), censor))
+  mid_censor <- cdata(base + y_scale(c(3, 7), censor))
+  handle <- GeomBar$handle_na
+
+  expect_warning(low_censor[[1]] <- handle(low_censor[[1]], list(na.rm = FALSE)),
     "Removed 1 row containing missing values or values outside the scale range")
-  expect_warning(mid_censor <- cdata(base + y_scale(c(3, 7), censor)),
-    "Removed 2 rows containing missing values or values outside the scale range")
+  expect_warning(mid_censor[[1]] <- handle(mid_censor[[1]], list(na.rm = FALSE)),
+    "Removed 3 rows containing missing values or values outside the scale range")
 
   low_squish <- cdata(base + y_scale(c(0, 5), squish))
   mid_squish <- cdata(base + y_scale(c(3, 7), squish))
@@ -127,7 +131,7 @@ test_that("oob affects position values", {
 
   # Bars depend on limits and oob
   expect_equal(low_censor[[1]]$y, c(0.2, 1))
-  expect_equal(mid_censor[[1]]$y, c(0.5))
+  expect_equal(mid_censor[[1]]$y, numeric(0))
   expect_equal(low_squish[[1]]$y, c(0.2, 1, 1))
   expect_equal(mid_squish[[1]]$y, c(0, 0.5, 1))
 })