diff --git a/plugin.py b/plugin.py
index 77aecd2..b2c77c6 100644
--- a/plugin.py
+++ b/plugin.py
@@ -163,8 +163,8 @@ class TriviaTime(callbacks.Plugin):
     def addZeroWidthSpace(self, text):
         if len(text) <= 1:
             return text
-        s = '%s​%s' % (text[:1], text[1:]) # WARNING: this has a zero width space, though its invisible
-        return s
+        s = u'%s\u200b%s' % (text[:1], text[1:])
+        return s.encode('utf-8')
 
     def acceptedit(self, irc, msg, arg, user, channel, num):
         """[<channel>] <num>