diff --git a/code/modules/tgui_input/say_modal/tgui_say_speech.dm b/code/modules/tgui_input/say_modal/tgui_say_speech.dm
index b7c9a48a065..8843a80431b 100644
--- a/code/modules/tgui_input/say_modal/tgui_say_speech.dm
+++ b/code/modules/tgui_input/say_modal/tgui_say_speech.dm
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
 		qdel(usr.client)
 		message_admins("[hacker_man_ckey] was kicked for attemping to send a null message to TGUI-say.")
 		CRASH("[hacker_man_ckey] entered in a null payload to the chat window.")
-	if(length(payload["entry"]) > MAX_MESSAGE_LEN)
+	if(length_char(payload["entry"]) > MAX_MESSAGE_LEN)
 		var/hacker_man_ckey = usr.client.ckey
 		qdel(usr.client)
 		message_admins("[hacker_man_ckey] was kicked for attemping to bypass TGUI-say character limits.")