diff --git a/src/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.service.js b/src/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.service.js
index fc326ad11b..67664af816 100644
--- a/src/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.service.js
+++ b/src/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.service.js
@@ -196,9 +196,11 @@ export const parseAttachment = (data) => {
   return output
 }
 export const addEmojis = (string, emojis) => {
+  const matchOperatorsRegex = /[|\\{}()[\]^$+*?.-]/g
   return emojis.reduce((acc, emoji) => {
+    const regexSafeShortCode = emoji.shortcode.replace(matchOperatorsRegex, '\\$&')
     return acc.replace(
-      new RegExp(`:${emoji.shortcode}:`, 'g'),
+      new RegExp(`:${regexSafeShortCode}:`, 'g'),
       `<img src='${emoji.url}' alt='${emoji.shortcode}' title='${emoji.shortcode}' class='emoji' />`
     )
   }, string)
diff --git a/test/unit/specs/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.spec.js b/test/unit/specs/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.spec.js
index 736b842c58..49f378e2bd 100644
--- a/test/unit/specs/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.spec.js
+++ b/test/unit/specs/services/entity_normalizer/entity_normalizer.spec.js
@@ -345,5 +345,16 @@ describe('API Entities normalizer', () => {
       const result = addEmojis('Admin add the :tenshi: emoji', emojis)
       expect(result).to.equal('Admin add the :tenshi: emoji')
     })
+
+    it('Doesn\'t blow up on regex special characters', () => {
+      const emojis = makeMockEmojiMasto([{
+        shortcode: 'c++'
+      }, {
+        shortcode: '[a-z] {|}*'
+      }])
+      const result = addEmojis('This post has :c++: emoji and :[a-z] {|}*: emoji', emojis)
+      expect(result).to.include('title=\'c++\'')
+      expect(result).to.include('title=\'[a-z] {|}*\'')
+    })
   })
 })