diff --git a/PBot/Utils/ValidateString.pm b/PBot/Utils/ValidateString.pm
index 6a119ab0..b73531e6 100644
--- a/PBot/Utils/ValidateString.pm
+++ b/PBot/Utils/ValidateString.pm
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ sub validate_string {
     return $string if not defined $string or not length $string;
     $max_length = 1024 * 8 if not defined $max_length;
 
+    local $@;
     eval {
         my $h = decode_json($string);
         foreach my $k (keys %$h) { $h->{$k} = substr $h->{$k}, 0, $max_length unless $max_length <= 0; }