diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f0a2755c995..dbd0776badb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 ## Fixes
 
 * Fixed an issue where `LiveMessage` would not filter its event flow. #70
+* Fixed an issue where emojis from events would be decoded incorrectly.
 
 # 0.6.4
 
diff --git a/gateway/src/main/kotlin/com/gitlab/kordlib/gateway/DefaultGateway.kt b/gateway/src/main/kotlin/com/gitlab/kordlib/gateway/DefaultGateway.kt
index e6d828e72e6..5f3f958a18b 100644
--- a/gateway/src/main/kotlin/com/gitlab/kordlib/gateway/DefaultGateway.kt
+++ b/gateway/src/main/kotlin/com/gitlab/kordlib/gateway/DefaultGateway.kt
@@ -182,14 +182,14 @@ class DefaultGateway(private val data: DefaultGatewayData) : Gateway {
         }
 
         return outputStream.use {
-            outputStream.toString(Charset.defaultCharset().name())
+            outputStream.toString(Charsets.UTF_8)
         }
     }
 
     private suspend fun read(frame: Frame) {
         val json = when {
             compression -> frame.deflateData()
-            else -> frame.data.toString(Charset.defaultCharset())
+            else -> String(frame.data, Charsets.UTF_8)
         }
 
         try {