diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/el/element-web/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/el/element-web/package.nix
index 165761f2a25c..b43013d179d1 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/el/element-web/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/el/element-web/package.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {
+  lib,
   stdenv,
   jq,
   element-web-unwrapped,
@@ -22,7 +23,7 @@ else
       mkdir -p $out
       ln -s ${element-web-unwrapped}/* $out
       rm $out/config.json
-      jq -s '.[0] * $conf' "${element-web-unwrapped}/config.json" --argjson "conf" '${builtins.toJSON conf}' > "$out/config.json"
+      jq -s '.[0] * $conf' "${element-web-unwrapped}/config.json" --argjson "conf" ${lib.escapeShellArg (builtins.toJSON conf)} > "$out/config.json"
 
       runHook postInstall
     '';