diff --git a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_contentstore.py b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_contentstore.py
index fb60589b53..da1d32a803 100644
--- a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_contentstore.py
+++ b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_contentstore.py
@@ -689,7 +689,7 @@ class MiscCourseTests(ContentStoreTestCase):
         resp = self.client.get_html(get_url('container_handler', self.vert_loc) + '?action=' + malicious_code)
         self.assertEqual(resp.status_code, 200)
         # Test that malicious code does not appear in html
-        self.assertNotIn(malicious_code, resp.content)
+        self.assertNotIn(malicious_code, resp.content.decode('utf-8'))
 
     def test_advanced_components_in_edit_unit(self):
         # This could be made better, but for now let's just assert that we see the advanced modules mentioned in the