diff --git a/routes/_utils/replaceEmoji.js b/routes/_utils/replaceEmoji.js
index 1abdf42e..8b6b811e 100644
--- a/routes/_utils/replaceEmoji.js
+++ b/routes/_utils/replaceEmoji.js
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 import { getEmojiRegex } from './emojiRegex'
 
+// \ufe0f is a variation selector, which seems to appear for some reason in e.g. ™
+let NON_EMOJI_REGEX = new RegExp('^[0-9#*™®\ufe0f]+$')
+
 // replace emoji in HTML with something else, safely skipping HTML tags
 export function replaceEmoji (string, replacer) {
   let output = ''
@@ -9,7 +12,7 @@ export function replaceEmoji (string, replacer) {
 
   function safeReplacer (substring) {
     // emoji regex matches digits and pound sign https://git.io/fpl6J
-    if (substring.match(/^[0-9#*™®]+$/)) {
+    if (substring.match(NON_EMOJI_REGEX)) {
       return substring
     }
     return replacer(substring)
diff --git a/tests/unit/test-emoji.js b/tests/unit/test-emoji.js
index 8da04b2c..c1d3c5df 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test-emoji.js
+++ b/tests/unit/test-emoji.js
@@ -70,6 +70,17 @@ describe('test-emoji.js', function () {
       replaceEmoji(`woot !@#$%^&*()~` + '`' + `{[}]:;"'<,>.?/£™℠®`, replacer),
       `woot !@#$%^&*()~` + '`' + `{[}]:;"'<,>.?/£™℠®`
     )
+
+    assert.strictEqual(
+      replaceEmoji(`woot !@#$%^&*()~` + '`' + `{[}]:;"'<,>.?/£™℠®`, replacer),
+      `woot !@#$%^&*()~` + '`' + `{[}]:;"'<,>.?/£™℠®`
+    )
+
+    // hidden VARIATION SELECTOR character is in here
+    assert.strictEqual(
+      replaceEmoji("<p>It's shapes™️ ... continued</p>", replacer),
+      "<p>It's shapes™️ ... continued</p>"
+    )
   })
 
   it('does not replace emoji inside HTML tags', function () {