diff --git a/libraries/matrixui/src/main/kotlin/io/element/android/libraries/matrix/ui/messages/ToPlainText.kt b/libraries/matrixui/src/main/kotlin/io/element/android/libraries/matrix/ui/messages/ToPlainText.kt
index 2fc371c71b..d58d12b785 100644
--- a/libraries/matrixui/src/main/kotlin/io/element/android/libraries/matrix/ui/messages/ToPlainText.kt
+++ b/libraries/matrixui/src/main/kotlin/io/element/android/libraries/matrix/ui/messages/ToPlainText.kt
@@ -55,8 +55,15 @@ private class PlainTextNodeVisitor : NodeVisitor {
     private val builder = StringBuilder()
 
     override fun head(node: Node, depth: Int) {
-        if (node is TextNode && node.text().isNotBlank()) {
-            builder.append(node.text())
+        if (node is TextNode) {
+            // If the text node is blank, only add a single whitespace char if there wasn't already one
+            if (node.text().isBlank()) {
+                if (builder.lastOrNull()?.isWhitespace() == false) {
+                    builder.append(" ")
+                }
+            } else {
+                builder.append(node.text())
+            }
         } else if (node is Element && node.tagName() == "li") {
             val index = node.elementSiblingIndex() + 1
             val isOrdered = node.parent()?.nodeName()?.lowercase() == "ol"
diff --git a/libraries/matrixui/src/test/kotlin/io/element/android/libraries/matrix/ui/messages/ToPlainTextTest.kt b/libraries/matrixui/src/test/kotlin/io/element/android/libraries/matrix/ui/messages/ToPlainTextTest.kt
index 5345113dc2..607f825401 100644
--- a/libraries/matrixui/src/test/kotlin/io/element/android/libraries/matrix/ui/messages/ToPlainTextTest.kt
+++ b/libraries/matrixui/src/test/kotlin/io/element/android/libraries/matrix/ui/messages/ToPlainTextTest.kt
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class ToPlainTextTest {
         val formattedBody = FormattedBody(
             format = MessageFormat.HTML,
             body = """
-                Hello world
+                Hello <strong>formatted</strong> <em>world</em>
                 <ul><li>This is an unordered list.</li></ul>
                 <ol><li>This is an ordered list.</li></ol>
                 <br />
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class ToPlainTextTest {
         )
         assertThat(formattedBody.toPlainText(permalinkParser = FakePermalinkParser())).isEqualTo(
             """
-            Hello world 
+            Hello formatted world 
             • This is an unordered list.
             1. This is an ordered list.
             """.trimIndent()