diff --git a/redditbot.py b/redditbot.py
index 199e1dd..c73500a 100644
--- a/redditbot.py
+++ b/redditbot.py
@@ -51,6 +51,59 @@ if isinstance(_send_to_chats, list):
         send_to_chats[i] = j
 bot_admins = config_data['config']['bot_admins']
 
+def title_or_shortlink(submission):
+    title = submission.title.strip(''.join((
+        # https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_control_characters#Category_%22Cc%22_control_codes_(C0_and_C1)
+        '\u0000', # NULL (used in null-terminated strings)
+        '\u0009', # HORIZONTAL TABULATION (HT) (inserted by the tab key)
+        '\u000A', # LINE FEED (LF) (used as a line break)
+        '\u000C', # FORM FEED (FF) (denotes a page break in a plain text file)
+        '\u000D', # CARRIAGE RETURN (CR) (used in some line-breaking conventions)
+        '\u0085', # NEXT LINE (NEL) (sometimes used as a line break in text transcoded from EBCDIC)
+        '\u0009\u000A\u000B\u000C\u000D',
+        '\u001C\u001D\u001E\u001F',
+        '\u0085'
+        # https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_control_characters#Unicode_introduced_separators
+        '\u2028', # LINE SEPARATOR (abbreviated LS or LSEP)
+        '\u2029', # PARAGRAPH SEPARATOR (abbreviated PS or PSEP)
+        # https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_control_characters#Bidirectional_text_control
+        '\u061C', # ARABIC LETTER MARK
+        '\u200E', # LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK
+        '\u200F', # RIGHT-TO-LEFT MARK
+        '\u202A', # LEFT-TO-RIGHT EMBEDDING
+        '\u202B', # RIGHT-TO-LEFT EMBEDDING
+        '\u202C', # POP DIRECTIONAL FORMATTING
+        '\u202D', # LEFT-TO-RIGHT OVERRIDE
+        '\u202E', # RIGHT-TO-LEFT OVERRIDE
+        '\u2066', # LEFT-TO-RIGHT ISOLATE
+        '\u2067', # RIGHT-TO-LEFT ISOLATE
+        '\u2068', # FIRST STRONG ISOLATE
+        '\u2069', # POP DIRECTIONAL ISOLATE
+        # https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_character#Unicode
+        '\u000B', # line tabulation
+        '\u0020', # space
+        '\u0085', # next line
+        '\u00A0', # no-break space
+        '\u1680', # ogham space mark
+        '\u2000', # en quad
+        '\u2001', # em quad
+        '\u2002', # en space
+        '\u2003', # em space
+        '\u2004', # three-per-em space
+        '\u2005', # four-per-em space
+        '\u2006', # six-per-em space
+        '\u2007', # figure space
+        '\u2008', # punctuation space
+        '\u2009', # thin space
+        '\u200A', # hair space
+        '\u2028', # line separator
+        '\u2029', # paragraph separator
+        '\u202F', # narrow no-break space
+        '\u205F', # medium mathematical space
+        '\u3000', # ideographic space
+    )))
+    return f'<a href="{submission.shortlink}">{html.escape(title)}</a>' if title else submission.shortlink
+
 logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
 async def main():
     _added_chats = []
@@ -299,7 +352,7 @@ async def main():
         return ext
 
     async def _actual_start_post(random_post, chats, cpp=None, snw=None, ssw=None):
-        text = f'<a href="{random_post.shortlink}">{html.escape(random_post.title)}</a>'
+        text = title_or_shortlink(random_post)
         nsfw = random_post.over_18
         spoilers = random_post.spoiler
         cpid = getattr(random_post, 'crosspost_parent', None)
@@ -311,7 +364,7 @@ async def main():
                 nsfw = random_post.over_18
             if ssw and not spoilers:
                 spoilers = random_post.spoiler
-            text += f' (crosspost of <a href="{random_post.shortlink}">{html.escape(random_post.title)}</a>)'
+            text += f' (crosspost of {title_or_shortlink(random_post)})'
         if spoilers and ssw:
             text = '🙈🙈🙈 SPOILERS 🙈🙈🙈\n' + text
         if nsfw and snw: