diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 1a7fa34..5253352 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import 'dotenv/config'
 
-import { items } from './config.js'
+import { items, linkFormat } from './config.js'
+import { markdownCharEscape } from './utils.js'
 
 const OMGLOL_API = `https://api.omg.lol/address/${process.env.OMGLOL_USERNAME}/now`
 
@@ -36,6 +37,13 @@ export default async function now() {
 				const latest = await getLatest()
 				console.log(`${id}: ${latest.text}`)
 				console.log(`${id} URL: ${latest.url}`)
+
+				// Apply markdown escaping only for markdown links
+				const displayText =
+					linkFormat === 'html'
+						? latest.text
+						: markdownCharEscape(latest.text)
+
 				if (latest && latest.text && latest.url) {
 					newNow = newNow.replace(regex, (match, openTag, closeTag) => {
 						// Replace href in opening tag
@@ -43,7 +51,7 @@ export default async function now() {
 							/href=["'][^"']*["']/,
 							`href="${latest.url}"`,
 						)
-						return `${updatedOpenTag}${latest.text}${closeTag}`
+						return `${updatedOpenTag}${displayText}${closeTag}`
 					})
 				}
 			} catch (e) {