diff --git a/src/groupchat_control.py b/src/groupchat_control.py
index b080748d5de349edcb4c87cecdb1800ae281a1fa..698a71eb854f104689c18ab4e370b978caa62cf5 100644
--- a/src/groupchat_control.py
+++ b/src/groupchat_control.py
@@ -129,6 +129,11 @@ class PrivateChatControl(ChatControl):
 
 	def send_message(self, message):
 		'''call this function to send our message'''
+		if not message:
+			return
+
+		message = helpers.remove_invalid_xml_chars(message)
+
 		if not message:
 			return
 
@@ -1604,6 +1609,11 @@ class GroupchatControl(ChatControlBase):
 
 	def send_message(self, message):
 		'''call this function to send our message'''
+		if not message:
+			return
+
+		message = helpers.remove_invalid_xml_chars(message)
+
 		if not message:
 			return