diff --git a/src/freedombone-app-gnusocial b/src/freedombone-app-gnusocial
index 5cf5fa2af304b91008b55ce893b110afb64c58fd..9dcbe10f6d7a8911e5931c0a8b0fbcd76180400d 100755
--- a/src/freedombone-app-gnusocial
+++ b/src/freedombone-app-gnusocial
@@ -165,6 +165,13 @@ function install_interactive_gnusocial {
                 GNUSOCIAL_DETAILS_COMPLETE="yes"
             fi
         done
+
+        # remove any invalid characters
+        if [ ${#GNUSOCIAL_WELCOME_MESSAGE} -gt 0 ]; then
+            new_welcome=$(echo "$GNUSOCIAL_WELCOME_MESSAGE" | sed "s|'||g")
+            GNUSOCIAL_WELCOME_MESSAGE="$new_welcome"
+        fi
+
         # save the results in the config file
         write_config_param "GNUSOCIAL_CODE" "$GNUSOCIAL_CODE"
         write_config_param "GNUSOCIAL_WELCOME_MESSAGE" "$GNUSOCIAL_WELCOME_MESSAGE"