diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/rss_proxy/tests/test_views.py b/lms/djangoapps/rss_proxy/tests/test_views.py
index 9f07c30e2c..1e0876bfbb 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/rss_proxy/tests/test_views.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/rss_proxy/tests/test_views.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ class RssProxyViewTests(TestCase):
         resp = self.client.get('%s?url=%s' % (reverse('rss_proxy:proxy'), self.whitelisted_url1))
         self.assertEqual(resp.status_code, 200)
         self.assertEqual(resp['Content-Type'], 'application/xml')
-        self.assertEqual(resp.content, self.rss)
+        self.assertEqual(resp.content.decode('utf-8'), self.rss)
 
     @patch('rss_proxy.views.requests.get')
     def test_proxy_with_whitelisted_url_404(self, mock_requests_get):