diff --git a/library/network/uri b/library/network/uri
index 2ede0e0c086..0060c1fdc90 100644
--- a/library/network/uri
+++ b/library/network/uri
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ def uri(module, url, dest, user, password, body, method, headers, redirects, soc
         r.update(resp_redir)
         r.update(resp)
         try:
-            return r, unicode(content).encode('utf8'), dest
+            return r, unicode(content.decode('unicode_escape')), dest
         except:
             return r, content, dest
     except httplib2.RedirectMissingLocation: