diff --git a/src/components/views/elements/Pill.js b/src/components/views/elements/Pill.js
index 1de857e7fe..59c0bde177 100644
--- a/src/components/views/elements/Pill.js
+++ b/src/components/views/elements/Pill.js
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ const Pill = createReactClass({
                 if (room) {
                     linkText = "@room";
                     if (this.props.shouldShowPillAvatar) {
-                        avatar = <RoomAvatar room={room} width={16} height={16} />;
+                        avatar = <RoomAvatar room={room} width={16} height={16} aria-hidden="true" />;
                     }
                     pillClass = 'mx_AtRoomPill';
                 }
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ const Pill = createReactClass({
                         member.rawDisplayName = member.rawDisplayName || '';
                         linkText = member.rawDisplayName;
                         if (this.props.shouldShowPillAvatar) {
-                            avatar = <MemberAvatar member={member} width={16} height={16} />;
+                            avatar = <MemberAvatar member={member} width={16} height={16} aria-hidden="true" />;
                         }
                         pillClass = 'mx_UserPill';
                         href = null;
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ const Pill = createReactClass({
                 if (room) {
                     linkText = (room ? getDisplayAliasForRoom(room) : null) || resource;
                     if (this.props.shouldShowPillAvatar) {
-                        avatar = <RoomAvatar room={room} width={16} height={16} />;
+                        avatar = <RoomAvatar room={room} width={16} height={16} aria-hidden="true" />;
                     }
                     pillClass = 'mx_RoomPill';
                 }
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ const Pill = createReactClass({
 
                     linkText = groupId;
                     if (this.props.shouldShowPillAvatar) {
-                        avatar = <BaseAvatar name={name || groupId} width={16} height={16}
+                        avatar = <BaseAvatar name={name || groupId} width={16} height={16} aria-hidden="true"
                                              url={avatarUrl ? cli.mxcUrlToHttp(avatarUrl, 16, 16) : null} />;
                     }
                     pillClass = 'mx_GroupPill';
diff --git a/test/components/views/messages/TextualBody-test.js b/test/components/views/messages/TextualBody-test.js
index 180a2f7e54..4e0785a8b9 100644
--- a/test/components/views/messages/TextualBody-test.js
+++ b/test/components/views/messages/TextualBody-test.js
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ describe("<TextualBody />", () => {
                 'Hey <span>' +
                 '<a class="mx_Pill mx_UserPill" title="@user:server">' +
                 '<img class="mx_BaseAvatar mx_BaseAvatar_image" src="mxc://avatar.url/image.png" ' +
-                'width="16" height="16" title="@member:domain.bla" alt="">Member</a>' +
+                'width="16" height="16" title="@member:domain.bla" alt="" aria-hidden="true">Member</a>' +
                 '</span></span>');
         });
     });