diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/system/user.py b/lib/ansible/modules/system/user.py
index d2449003e8b..75b71c825af 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/system/user.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/system/user.py
@@ -220,6 +220,7 @@ import grp
 import platform
 import socket
 import time
+from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
 
 try:
     import spwd
@@ -401,7 +402,7 @@ class User(object):
         helpout = data1 + data2
 
         # check if --append exists
-        lines = helpout.split('\n')
+        lines = to_native(helpout).split('\n')
         for line in lines:
             if line.strip().startswith('-a, --append'):
                 return True