diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/createMessageContent.ts b/src/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/createMessageContent.ts
index 6f13d3fd272..1bde32ca2b3 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/createMessageContent.ts
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/createMessageContent.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ import SettingsStore from "../../../../../settings/SettingsStore";
 import { RoomPermalinkCreator } from "../../../../../utils/permalinks/Permalinks";
 import { addReplyToMessageContent } from "../../../../../utils/Reply";
 
+export const EMOTE_PREFIX = "/me ";
+
 // Merges favouring the given relation
 function attachRelation(content: IContent, relation?: IEventRelation): void {
     if (relation) {
@@ -61,6 +63,8 @@ interface CreateMessageContentParams {
     editedEvent?: MatrixEvent;
 }
 
+const isMatrixEvent = (e: MatrixEvent | undefined): e is MatrixEvent => e instanceof MatrixEvent;
+
 export async function createMessageContent(
     message: string,
     isHTML: boolean,
@@ -72,22 +76,22 @@ export async function createMessageContent(
         editedEvent,
     }: CreateMessageContentParams,
 ): Promise<IContent> {
-    // TODO emote ?
-
-    const isEditing = Boolean(editedEvent);
-    const isReply = isEditing ? Boolean(editedEvent?.replyEventId) : Boolean(replyToEvent);
+    const isEditing = isMatrixEvent(editedEvent);
+    const isReply = isEditing ? Boolean(editedEvent.replyEventId) : isMatrixEvent(replyToEvent);
     const isReplyAndEditing = isEditing && isReply;
 
-    /*const isEmote = containsEmote(model);
+    const isEmote = message.startsWith(EMOTE_PREFIX);
     if (isEmote) {
-        model = stripEmoteCommand(model);
+        // if we are dealing with an emote we want to remove the prefix so that `/me` does not
+        // appear after the `* <userName>` text in the timeline
+        message = message.slice(EMOTE_PREFIX.length);
     }
-    if (startsWith(model, "//")) {
-        model = stripPrefix(model, "/");
+    if (message.startsWith("//")) {
+        // if user wants to enter a single slash at the start of a message, this
+        // is how they have to do it (due to it clashing with commands), so here we
+        // remove the first character to make sure //word displays as /word
+        message = message.slice(1);
     }
-    model = unescapeMessage(model);*/
-
-    // const body = textSerialize(model);
 
     // if we're editing rich text, the message content is pure html
     // BUT if we're not, the message content will be plain text
@@ -96,8 +100,7 @@ export async function createMessageContent(
     const formattedBodyPrefix = (isReplyAndEditing && getHtmlReplyFallback(editedEvent)) || "";
 
     const content: IContent = {
-        // TODO emote
-        msgtype: MsgType.Text,
+        msgtype: isEmote ? MsgType.Emote : MsgType.Text,
         body: isEditing ? `${bodyPrefix} * ${body}` : body,
     };
 
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/message.ts b/src/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/message.ts
index 9753ebae494..1c8c17f818a 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/message.ts
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/message.ts
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ import dis from "../../../../../dispatcher/dispatcher";
 import { createRedactEventDialog } from "../../../dialogs/ConfirmRedactDialog";
 import { endEditing, cancelPreviousPendingEdit } from "./editing";
 import EditorStateTransfer from "../../../../../utils/EditorStateTransfer";
-import { createMessageContent } from "./createMessageContent";
+import { createMessageContent, EMOTE_PREFIX } from "./createMessageContent";
 import { isContentModified } from "./isContentModified";
 import { CommandCategories, getCommand } from "../../../../../SlashCommands";
 import { runSlashCommand, shouldSendAnyway } from "../../../../../editor/commands";
@@ -78,11 +78,11 @@ export async function sendMessage(
 
     let content: IContent | null = null;
 
-    // Functionality here approximates what can be found in SendMessageComposer.sendMessage()
-    if (message.startsWith("/") && !message.startsWith("//")) {
+    // Slash command handling here approximates what can be found in SendMessageComposer.sendMessage()
+    // but note that the /me and // special cases are handled by the call to createMessageContent
+    if (message.startsWith("/") && !message.startsWith("//") && !message.startsWith(EMOTE_PREFIX)) {
         const { cmd, args } = getCommand(message);
         if (cmd) {
-            // TODO handle /me special case separately, see end of SlashCommands.Commands
             const threadId = relation?.rel_type === THREAD_RELATION_TYPE.name ? relation?.event_id : null;
             let commandSuccessful: boolean;
             [content, commandSuccessful] = await runSlashCommand(cmd, args, roomId, threadId ?? null);
diff --git a/test/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/createMessageContent-test.ts b/test/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/createMessageContent-test.ts
index 340a4c1af2c..a77c7dc6045 100644
--- a/test/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/createMessageContent-test.ts
+++ b/test/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/createMessageContent-test.ts
@@ -13,10 +13,14 @@ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.
 */
+import { MsgType } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/matrix";
 
 import { mkEvent } from "../../../../../test-utils";
 import { RoomPermalinkCreator } from "../../../../../../src/utils/permalinks/Permalinks";
-import { createMessageContent } from "../../../../../../src/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/createMessageContent";
+import {
+    createMessageContent,
+    EMOTE_PREFIX,
+} from "../../../../../../src/components/views/rooms/wysiwyg_composer/utils/createMessageContent";
 
 describe("createMessageContent", () => {
     const permalinkCreator = {
@@ -130,4 +134,24 @@ describe("createMessageContent", () => {
             },
         });
     });
+
+    it("Should strip the /me prefix from a message", async () => {
+        const textBody = "some body text";
+        const content = await createMessageContent(EMOTE_PREFIX + textBody, true, { permalinkCreator });
+
+        expect(content).toMatchObject({ body: textBody, formatted_body: textBody });
+    });
+
+    it("Should strip single / from message prefixed with //", async () => {
+        const content = await createMessageContent("//twoSlashes", true, { permalinkCreator });
+
+        expect(content).toMatchObject({ body: "/twoSlashes", formatted_body: "/twoSlashes" });
+    });
+
+    it("Should set the content type to MsgType.Emote when /me prefix is used", async () => {
+        const textBody = "some body text";
+        const content = await createMessageContent(EMOTE_PREFIX + textBody, true, { permalinkCreator });
+
+        expect(content).toMatchObject({ msgtype: MsgType.Emote });
+    });
 });