diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 2db92a6..a7813f0 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "hylo-utils",
-  "version": "1.2.3",
+  "version": "1.2.4",
   "description": "Utility code shared by hylo-node and hylo-redux.",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
diff --git a/text.js b/text.js
index 5180476..c1681dd 100644
--- a/text.js
+++ b/text.js
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ function sanitize(text, whitelist, attrWhitelist) {
   var strippedText = text.replace(/<p>&nbsp;/gi, '<p>');
 
   return (0, _insane2.default)(strippedText, {
-    allowedTags: whitelist || ['a', 'br', 'em', 'li', 'ol', 'p', 'strong', 'ul'],
+    allowedTags: whitelist || ['a', 'br', 'em', 'li', 'ol', 'p', 'strong', 'ul', 'i', 'b'],
     allowedAttributes: attrWhitelist || {
       'a': ['href', 'data-user-id', 'data-entity-type']
     }
@@ -138,4 +138,4 @@ function humanDate(date, short) {
 function threadNames(names) {
   if (names.length < 3) return names.join(' & ');
   return names[0] + ' & ' + (names.length - 1) + ' others';
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}