diff --git a/functions.php b/functions.php
index 3087b9b6a..f6e3cdacd 100644
--- a/functions.php
+++ b/functions.php
@@ -875,8 +875,8 @@
 					}
 				}
 
-				$boring_tags = trim_array(split(",", get_pref($link, 
-					'BLACKLISTED_TAGS', $owner_uid, '')));
+				$boring_tags = trim_array(split(",", mb_strtolower(get_pref($link, 
+					'BLACKLISTED_TAGS', $owner_uid, ''), 'utf-8')));
 
 				if ($additional_tags && is_array($additional_tags)) {
 					foreach ($additional_tags as $tag) {