diff --git a/client/src/components/preview-modal.tsx b/client/src/components/preview-modal.tsx
index 21e82ef..7fcd3e9 100644
--- a/client/src/components/preview-modal.tsx
+++ b/client/src/components/preview-modal.tsx
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button';
 import { Select, SelectContent, SelectItem, SelectTrigger, SelectValue } from '@/components/ui/select';
 import { ChevronLeft, ChevronRight, Send, Facebook, Instagram, Heart, MessageCircle, Share2, Bookmark } from 'lucide-react';
 import type { Media } from '@shared/schema';
-import { removeEmojis } from '@shared/emoji';
+import { removeHashtags } from '@shared/emoji';
 
 interface PreviewModalProps {
   open: boolean;
@@ -228,8 +228,8 @@ export function PreviewModal({
     const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
     if (!ctx) return [text];
 
-    // Remove emojis for better text rendering
-    const cleanText = removeEmojis(text);
+    // Remove hashtags while keeping emojis
+    const cleanText = removeHashtags(text);
     ctx.font = `bold ${fontSize}px Arial, sans-serif`;
     const words = cleanText.split(' ');
     const lines: string[] = [];
diff --git a/server/services/emojiRenderer.ts b/server/services/emojiRenderer.ts
index 9137b6b..909dc03 100644
--- a/server/services/emojiRenderer.ts
+++ b/server/services/emojiRenderer.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import { parse } from 'twemoji-parser';
 import { createCanvas, loadImage, CanvasRenderingContext2D } from 'canvas';
-import fetch from 'node-fetch';
 
 interface EmojiSegment {
   type: 'text' | 'emoji';
@@ -128,8 +127,43 @@ export class EmojiRenderer {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Break a long word that exceeds maxWidth into chunks
+   */
+  private async breakLongWord(
+    word: string,
+    ctx: CanvasRenderingContext2D,
+    maxWidth: number,
+    fontSize: number
+  ): Promise<string[]> {
+    const chunks: string[] = [];
+    let currentChunk = '';
+
+    // Split word into individual characters (graphemes for emoji support)
+    const chars = Array.from(word);
+
+    for (const char of chars) {
+      const testChunk = currentChunk + char;
+      const width = await this.measureText(testChunk, ctx, fontSize);
+
+      if (width > maxWidth && currentChunk) {
+        chunks.push(currentChunk);
+        currentChunk = char;
+      } else {
+        currentChunk = testChunk;
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (currentChunk) {
+      chunks.push(currentChunk);
+    }
+
+    return chunks;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Wrap text with emojis into multiple lines
+   * Handles long words/emoji sequences by breaking them when needed
    */
   async wrapText(
     text: string,
@@ -146,8 +180,27 @@ export class EmojiRenderer {
       const testWidth = await this.measureText(testLine, ctx, fontSize);
 
       if (testWidth > maxWidth && currentLine) {
+        // Current line would exceed width, push it and start new line
         lines.push(currentLine);
         currentLine = word;
+
+        // Check if the word itself is too long for a single line
+        const wordWidth = await this.measureText(word, ctx, fontSize);
+        if (wordWidth > maxWidth) {
+          // Word is too long, need to break it into chunks
+          const chunks = await this.breakLongWord(word, ctx, maxWidth, fontSize);
+          for (let i = 0; i < chunks.length - 1; i++) {
+            lines.push(chunks[i]);
+          }
+          currentLine = chunks[chunks.length - 1];
+        }
+      } else if (testWidth > maxWidth && !currentLine) {
+        // First word is too long, need to break it
+        const chunks = await this.breakLongWord(word, ctx, maxWidth, fontSize);
+        for (let i = 0; i < chunks.length - 1; i++) {
+          lines.push(chunks[i]);
+        }
+        currentLine = chunks[chunks.length - 1];
       } else {
         currentLine = testLine;
       }
diff --git a/server/services/imageProcessor.ts b/server/services/imageProcessor.ts
index e63bcba..5334db5 100644
--- a/server/services/imageProcessor.ts
+++ b/server/services/imageProcessor.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@ import { randomUUID } from "crypto";
 import path from "path";
 import fs from "fs/promises";
 import { createCanvas, loadImage, registerFont } from "canvas";
-import { removeEmojis } from "@shared/emoji";
+import { removeHashtags } from "@shared/emoji";
+import { emojiRenderer } from "./emojiRenderer";
 
 interface CropDimensions {
   width: number;
@@ -118,8 +119,8 @@ export class ImageProcessor {
     const PADDING = 40;
     const LINE_HEIGHT_MULTIPLIER = 1.3;
     
-    // Remove emojis from text as canvas doesn't support them
-    const cleanText = removeEmojis(text);
+    // Remove hashtags from text while keeping emojis
+    const cleanText = removeHashtags(text);
 
     const canvas = createCanvas(STORY_WIDTH, STORY_HEIGHT);
     const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
@@ -165,7 +166,7 @@ export class ImageProcessor {
     while (fontSize >= MIN_FONT_SIZE) {
       ctx.font = `bold ${fontSize}px "DejaVu Sans", Arial, sans-serif`;
       
-      lines = this.wrapText(ctx, cleanText, maxTextWidth);
+      lines = await emojiRenderer.wrapText(cleanText, ctx, maxTextWidth, fontSize);
       const lineHeight = fontSize * LINE_HEIGHT_MULTIPLIER;
       totalTextHeight = lines.length * lineHeight;
 
@@ -179,7 +180,7 @@ export class ImageProcessor {
     if (fontSize < MIN_FONT_SIZE) {
       fontSize = MIN_FONT_SIZE;
       ctx.font = `bold ${fontSize}px "DejaVu Sans", Arial, sans-serif`;
-      lines = this.wrapText(ctx, cleanText, maxTextWidth);
+      lines = await emojiRenderer.wrapText(cleanText, ctx, maxTextWidth, fontSize);
       const lineHeight = fontSize * LINE_HEIGHT_MULTIPLIER;
       totalTextHeight = lines.length * lineHeight;
       
@@ -194,16 +195,19 @@ export class ImageProcessor {
     }
 
     ctx.fillStyle = 'white';
-    ctx.textAlign = 'center';
+    ctx.textAlign = 'left';
     ctx.textBaseline = 'middle';
 
     const lineHeight = fontSize * LINE_HEIGHT_MULTIPLIER;
     const startY = textBoxY + (textBoxHeight - totalTextHeight) / 2 + lineHeight / 2;
 
-    lines.forEach((line, index) => {
+    for (let index = 0; index < lines.length; index++) {
+      const line = lines[index];
       const y = startY + (index * lineHeight);
-      ctx.fillText(line, STORY_WIDTH / 2, y);
-    });
+      const lineWidth = await emojiRenderer.measureText(line, ctx, fontSize);
+      const x = (STORY_WIDTH - lineWidth) / 2; // Center the line
+      await emojiRenderer.drawText(line, ctx, x, y, fontSize);
+    }
 
     return canvas.toBuffer('image/png');
   }
diff --git a/server/services/twemoji-parser.d.ts b/server/services/twemoji-parser.d.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d8821b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/services/twemoji-parser.d.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+declare module 'twemoji-parser' {
+  export interface EmojiEntity {
+    text: string;
+    url: string;
+    indices: [number, number];
+    type: string;
+  }
+
+  export function parse(text: string, options?: { buildUrl?: (codePoint: string, assetType: string) => string }): EmojiEntity[];
+  export function toCodePoints(unicodeSurrogates: string): string[];
+}