diff --git a/src/channels/telegram.test.ts b/src/channels/telegram.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f008e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/channels/telegram.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
+import { TelegramAdapter } from './telegram.js';
+
+describe('TelegramAdapter reactions', () => {
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.restoreAllMocks();
+  });
+
+  it('strips variation selectors before sending unicode heart reactions', async () => {
+    const adapter = new TelegramAdapter({ token: 'test-token' });
+    const setReaction = vi
+      .spyOn(adapter.getBot().api, 'setMessageReaction')
+      .mockImplementation(async () => true as any);
+
+    await adapter.addReaction('123', '456', '❤️');
+
+    expect(setReaction).toHaveBeenCalledWith('123', 456, [
+      { type: 'emoji', emoji: '❤' },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("normalizes the heart alias to Telegram's bare-heart reaction", async () => {
+    const adapter = new TelegramAdapter({ token: 'test-token' });
+    const setReaction = vi
+      .spyOn(adapter.getBot().api, 'setMessageReaction')
+      .mockImplementation(async () => true as any);
+
+    await adapter.addReaction('123', '456', 'heart');
+
+    expect(setReaction).toHaveBeenCalledWith('123', 456, [
+      { type: 'emoji', emoji: '❤' },
+    ]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/channels/telegram.ts b/src/channels/telegram.ts
index 16595f6..621cc8f 100644
--- a/src/channels/telegram.ts
+++ b/src/channels/telegram.ts
@@ -617,7 +617,7 @@ export class TelegramAdapter implements ChannelAdapter {
   }
 
   async addReaction(chatId: string, messageId: string, emoji: string): Promise<void> {
-    const resolved = resolveEmoji(emoji);
+    const resolved = resolveTelegramEmoji(emoji);
     if (!TELEGRAM_REACTION_SET.has(resolved)) {
       throw new Error(`Unsupported Telegram reaction emoji: ${resolved}`);
     }
@@ -810,6 +810,13 @@ function extractTelegramReaction(reaction?: {
   return null;
 }
 
+function resolveTelegramEmoji(input: string): string {
+  const resolved = resolveEmoji(input);
+  // Strip variation selectors (U+FE0E / U+FE0F). Telegram's reaction API
+  // expects bare emoji without them (e.g. ❤ not ❤️).
+  return resolved.replace(/[\uFE0E\uFE0F]/g, '');
+}
+
 const TELEGRAM_REACTION_EMOJIS = [
   '👍', '👎', '❤', '🔥', '🥰', '👏', '😁', '🤔', '🤯', '😱', '🤬', '😢',
   '🎉', '🤩', '🤮', '💩', '🙏', '👌', '🕊', '🤡', '🥱', '🥴', '😍', '🐳',