diff --git a/searx/query.py b/searx/query.py
index 7acdd543..e4483f18 100644
--- a/searx/query.py
+++ b/searx/query.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ class RawTextQuery(object):
         self.query_parts = []
 
         # split query, including whitespaces
-        raw_query_parts = re.split(r'(\s+)', self.query)
+        raw_query_parts = re.split(r'(\s+)' if isinstance(self.query, str) else b'(\s+)', self.query)
 
         parse_next = True