diff --git a/include/wx/private/refcountermt.h b/include/wx/private/refcountermt.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c40a326990
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/wx/private/refcountermt.h
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// Name:        wx/private/refcountermt.h
+// Purpose:     wxRefCounterMT class: MT-safe version of wxRefCounter
+// Author:      Vadim Zeitlin
+// Created:     2021-01-11
+// Copyright:   (c) 2021 Vadim Zeitlin <vadim@wxwidgets.org>
+// Licence:     wxWindows licence
+///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+#ifndef _WX_PRIVATE_REFCOUNTERMT_H_
+#define _WX_PRIVATE_REFCOUNTERMT_H_
+
+#include "wx/atomic.h"
+
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Version of wxRefCounter with MT-safe count
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+class wxRefCounterMT
+{
+public:
+    wxRefCounterMT() { m_count = 1; }
+
+    void IncRef() { wxAtomicInc(m_count); }
+    void DecRef()
+    {
+        if ( wxAtomicDec(m_count) == 0 )
+            delete this;
+    }
+
+protected:
+    virtual ~wxRefCounterMT() { }
+
+private:
+    // Ref count is atomic to allow IncRef() and DecRef() to be concurrently
+    // called from different threads.
+    wxAtomicInt m_count;
+
+    wxDECLARE_NO_COPY_CLASS(wxRefCounterMT);
+};
+
+#endif // _WX_PRIVATE_REFCOUNTERMT_H_
diff --git a/include/wx/private/webrequest.h b/include/wx/private/webrequest.h
index 69e94d8dbb..2b44af1fe0 100644
--- a/include/wx/private/webrequest.h
+++ b/include/wx/private/webrequest.h
@@ -14,13 +14,15 @@
 #include "wx/hashmap.h"
 #include "wx/scopedptr.h"
 
+#include "wx/private/refcountermt.h"
+
 WX_DECLARE_STRING_HASH_MAP(wxString, wxWebRequestHeaderMap);
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // wxWebAuthChallengeImpl
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-class wxWebAuthChallengeImpl : public wxRefCounter
+class wxWebAuthChallengeImpl : public wxRefCounterMT
 {
 public:
     virtual ~wxWebAuthChallengeImpl() { }
@@ -43,7 +45,7 @@ private:
 // wxWebRequestImpl
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-class wxWebRequestImpl : public wxRefCounter
+class wxWebRequestImpl : public wxRefCounterMT
 {
 public:
     virtual ~wxWebRequestImpl() { }
@@ -123,7 +125,7 @@ private:
 // wxWebResponseImpl
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-class wxWebResponseImpl : public wxRefCounter
+class wxWebResponseImpl : public wxRefCounterMT
 {
 public:
     virtual ~wxWebResponseImpl();
@@ -190,7 +192,7 @@ public:
 // wxWebSessionImpl
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-class wxWebSessionImpl : public wxRefCounter
+class wxWebSessionImpl : public wxRefCounterMT
 {
 public:
     virtual ~wxWebSessionImpl() { }