diff --git a/sopel/irc/utils.py b/sopel/irc/utils.py
index 12ba09461..3d3bf450f 100644
--- a/sopel/irc/utils.py
+++ b/sopel/irc/utils.py
@@ -25,10 +25,11 @@ def safe(string):
     :rtype: str
     :raises TypeError: when ``string`` is ``None``
 
-    This function removes newlines from a string and always returns a unicode
-    string (``str``), but doesn't strip or alter it in any other way::
+    This function removes newlines and null-bytes from a string. It will always
+    return a Unicode ``str``, even if given non-Unicode input, but doesn't strip
+    or alter the string in any other way::
 
-        >>> safe('some text\\r\\n')
+        >>> safe('some \x00text\\r\\n')
         'some text'
 
     This is useful to ensure a string can be used in a IRC message.
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ def safe(string):
         string = string.decode("utf8")
     string = string.replace('\n', '')
     string = string.replace('\r', '')
+    string = string.replace('\x00', '')
     return string
 
 
diff --git a/test/irc/test_irc_utils.py b/test/irc/test_irc_utils.py
index 94eab6298..3204444e2 100644
--- a/test/irc/test_irc_utils.py
+++ b/test/irc/test_irc_utils.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 """Tests for core ``sopel.irc.utils``"""
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+from itertools import permutations
+
 import pytest
 
 from sopel.irc import utils
@@ -8,15 +10,19 @@
 
 def test_safe():
     text = 'some text'
-    assert utils.safe(text + '\r\n') == text
-    assert utils.safe(text + '\n') == text
-    assert utils.safe(text + '\r') == text
-    assert utils.safe('\r\n' + text) == text
-    assert utils.safe('\n' + text) == text
-    assert utils.safe('\r' + text) == text
-    assert utils.safe('some \r\ntext') == text
-    assert utils.safe('some \ntext') == text
-    assert utils.safe('some \rtext') == text
+    variants = permutations(('\n', '\r', '\x00'))
+    for variant in variants:
+        seq = ''.join(variant)
+        assert utils.safe(text + seq) == text
+        assert utils.safe(seq + text) == text
+        assert utils.safe('some ' + seq + 'text') == text
+        assert utils.safe(
+            variant[0]
+            + 'some '
+            + variant[1]
+            + 'text'
+            + variant[2]
+        ) == text
 
 
 def test_safe_empty():
@@ -24,20 +30,23 @@ def test_safe_empty():
     assert utils.safe(text) == text
 
 
-def test_safe_null():
+def test_safe_none():
     with pytest.raises(TypeError):
         utils.safe(None)
 
 
 def test_safe_bytes():
     text = b'some text'
-    assert utils.safe(text) == text.decode('utf-8')
-    assert utils.safe(text + b'\r\n') == text.decode('utf-8')
-    assert utils.safe(text + b'\n') == text.decode('utf-8')
-    assert utils.safe(text + b'\r') == text.decode('utf-8')
-    assert utils.safe(b'\r\n' + text) == text.decode('utf-8')
-    assert utils.safe(b'\n' + text) == text.decode('utf-8')
-    assert utils.safe(b'\r' + text) == text.decode('utf-8')
-    assert utils.safe(b'some \r\ntext') == text.decode('utf-8')
-    assert utils.safe(b'some \ntext') == text.decode('utf-8')
-    assert utils.safe(b'some \rtext') == text.decode('utf-8')
+    variants = permutations((b'\n', b'\r', b'\x00'))
+    for variant in variants:
+        seq = b''.join(variant)
+        assert utils.safe(text + seq) == text.decode('utf-8')
+        assert utils.safe(seq + text) == text.decode('utf-8')
+        assert utils.safe(b'some ' + seq + b'text') == text.decode('utf-8')
+        assert utils.safe(
+            variant[0]
+            + b'some '
+            + variant[1]
+            + b'text'
+            + variant[2]
+        ) == text.decode('utf-8')