diff --git a/ts/components/MessageBodyHighlight.tsx b/ts/components/MessageBodyHighlight.tsx
index 2bf6e39ec..f42cfe1f8 100644
--- a/ts/components/MessageBodyHighlight.tsx
+++ b/ts/components/MessageBodyHighlight.tsx
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ import { SizeClassType } from '../util/emoji';
 
 import { RenderTextCallbackType } from '../types/Util';
 
-interface Props {
+type Props = {
   text: string;
-}
+};
 
 const renderNewLines: RenderTextCallbackType = ({ text, key }) => (
   <AddNewLines key={key} text={text} />
@@ -28,56 +28,27 @@ const renderEmoji = ({
   renderNonEmoji: RenderTextCallbackType;
 }) => <Emojify key={key} text={text} sizeClass={sizeClass} renderNonEmoji={renderNonEmoji} />;
 
-export class MessageBodyHighlight extends React.Component<Props> {
-  public render() {
-    const { text } = this.props;
-    const results: Array<any> = [];
-    const FIND_BEGIN_END = /<<left>>(.+?)<<right>>/g;
+export const MessageBodyHighlight = (props: Props) => {
+  const { text } = props;
+  const results: Array<any> = [];
+  const FIND_BEGIN_END = /<<left>>(.+?)<<right>>/g;
 
-    let match = FIND_BEGIN_END.exec(text);
-    let last = 0;
-    let count = 1;
+  let match = FIND_BEGIN_END.exec(text);
+  let last = 0;
+  let count = 1;
 
-    if (!match) {
-      return <MessageBody disableJumbomoji={true} disableLinks={true} text={text} />;
-    }
-
-    const sizeClass = '';
-
-    while (match) {
-      if (last < match.index) {
-        const beforeText = text.slice(last, match.index);
-        results.push(
-          renderEmoji({
-            text: beforeText,
-            sizeClass,
-            key: count++,
-            renderNonEmoji: renderNewLines,
-          })
-        );
-      }
-
-      const [, toHighlight] = match;
-      results.push(
-        <span className="module-message-body__highlight" key={count++}>
-          {renderEmoji({
-            text: toHighlight,
-            sizeClass,
-            key: count++,
-            renderNonEmoji: renderNewLines,
-          })}
-        </span>
-      );
+  if (!match) {
+    return <MessageBody disableJumbomoji={true} disableLinks={true} text={text} />;
+  }
 
-      // @ts-ignore
-      last = FIND_BEGIN_END.lastIndex;
-      match = FIND_BEGIN_END.exec(text);
-    }
+  const sizeClass = '';
 
-    if (last < text.length) {
+  while (match) {
+    if (last < match.index) {
+      const beforeText = text.slice(last, match.index);
       results.push(
         renderEmoji({
-          text: text.slice(last),
+          text: beforeText,
           sizeClass,
           key: count++,
           renderNonEmoji: renderNewLines,
@@ -85,6 +56,33 @@ export class MessageBodyHighlight extends React.Component<Props> {
       );
     }
 
-    return results;
+    const [, toHighlight] = match;
+    results.push(
+      <span className="module-message-body__highlight" key={count++}>
+        {renderEmoji({
+          text: toHighlight,
+          sizeClass,
+          key: count++,
+          renderNonEmoji: renderNewLines,
+        })}
+      </span>
+    );
+
+    // @ts-ignore
+    last = FIND_BEGIN_END.lastIndex;
+    match = FIND_BEGIN_END.exec(text);
   }
-}
+
+  if (last < text.length) {
+    results.push(
+      renderEmoji({
+        text: text.slice(last),
+        sizeClass,
+        key: count++,
+        renderNonEmoji: renderNewLines,
+      })
+    );
+  }
+
+  return results;
+};
diff --git a/ts/components/conversation/Emojify.tsx b/ts/components/conversation/Emojify.tsx
index 9fa41a70d..5a83619c9 100644
--- a/ts/components/conversation/Emojify.tsx
+++ b/ts/components/conversation/Emojify.tsx
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ export class Emojify extends React.Component<Props> {
     while (match) {
       if (last < match.index) {
         const textWithNoEmoji = text.slice(last, match.index);
+
         results.push(
           renderNonEmoji({
             text: textWithNoEmoji,
diff --git a/ts/components/conversation/Message.tsx b/ts/components/conversation/Message.tsx
index a60dfc8df..221a0e7b7 100644
--- a/ts/components/conversation/Message.tsx
+++ b/ts/components/conversation/Message.tsx
@@ -860,8 +860,6 @@ class MessageInner extends React.PureComponent<Props, State> {
     if (target.className === 'text-selectable' || window.contextMenuShown) {
       return;
     }
-    event.preventDefault();
-    event.stopPropagation();
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/ts/components/session/conversation/SessionCompositionBox.tsx b/ts/components/session/conversation/SessionCompositionBox.tsx
index d831f2c5b..4465b2208 100644
--- a/ts/components/session/conversation/SessionCompositionBox.tsx
+++ b/ts/components/session/conversation/SessionCompositionBox.tsx
@@ -964,6 +964,63 @@ class SessionCompositionBoxInner extends React.Component<Props, State> {
     this.setState({ message });
   }
 
+  private getSelectionBasedOnMentions(index: number) {
+    // we have to get the real selectionStart/end of an index in the mentions box.
+    // this is kind of a pain as the mentions box has two inputs, one with the real text, and one with the extracted mentions
+
+    // the index shown to the user is actually just the visible part of the mentions (so the part between ￗ...ￒ
+    const matches = this.state.message.match(this.mentionsRegex);
+
+    let lastMatchStartIndex = 0;
+    let lastMatchEndIndex = 0;
+    let lastRealMatchEndIndex = 0;
+
+    if (!matches) {
+      return index;
+    }
+    const mapStartToLengthOfMatches = matches.map(match => {
+      const displayNameStart = match.indexOf('\uFFD7') + 1;
+      const displayNameEnd = match.lastIndexOf('\uFFD2');
+      const displayName = match.substring(displayNameStart, displayNameEnd);
+
+      const currentMatchStartIndex = this.state.message.indexOf(match) + lastMatchStartIndex;
+      lastMatchStartIndex = currentMatchStartIndex;
+      lastMatchEndIndex = currentMatchStartIndex + match.length;
+
+      const realLength = displayName.length + 1;
+      lastRealMatchEndIndex = lastRealMatchEndIndex + realLength;
+
+      // the +1 is for the @
+      return {
+        length: displayName.length + 1,
+        lastRealMatchEndIndex,
+        start: lastMatchStartIndex,
+        end: lastMatchEndIndex,
+      };
+    });
+
+    const beforeFirstMatch = index < mapStartToLengthOfMatches[0].start;
+    if (beforeFirstMatch) {
+      // those first char are always just char, so the mentions logic does not come into account
+      return index;
+    }
+    const lastMatchMap = _.last(mapStartToLengthOfMatches);
+
+    if (!lastMatchMap) {
+      return Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER;
+    }
+
+    const indexIsAfterEndOfLastMatch = lastMatchMap.lastRealMatchEndIndex <= index;
+    if (indexIsAfterEndOfLastMatch) {
+      const lastEnd = lastMatchMap.end;
+      const diffBetweenEndAndLastRealEnd = index - lastMatchMap.lastRealMatchEndIndex;
+      return lastEnd + diffBetweenEndAndLastRealEnd - 1;
+    }
+    // now this is the hard part, the cursor is currently between the end of the first match and the start of the last match
+    // for now, just append it to the end
+    return Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER;
+  }
+
   private onEmojiClick({ colons }: { colons: string }) {
     const messageBox = this.textarea.current;
     if (!messageBox) {
@@ -973,10 +1030,12 @@ class SessionCompositionBoxInner extends React.Component<Props, State> {
     const { message } = this.state;
 
     const currentSelectionStart = Number(messageBox.selectionStart);
-    const currentSelectionEnd = Number(messageBox.selectionEnd);
 
-    const before = message.slice(0, currentSelectionStart);
-    const end = message.slice(currentSelectionEnd);
+    const realSelectionStart = this.getSelectionBasedOnMentions(currentSelectionStart);
+
+    const before = message.slice(0, realSelectionStart);
+    const end = message.slice(realSelectionStart);
+
     const newMessage = `${before}${colons}${end}`;
 
     this.setState({ message: newMessage }, () => {
diff --git a/ts/components/session/conversation/SessionEmojiPanel.tsx b/ts/components/session/conversation/SessionEmojiPanel.tsx
index 9657c15ca..b9b174712 100644
--- a/ts/components/session/conversation/SessionEmojiPanel.tsx
+++ b/ts/components/session/conversation/SessionEmojiPanel.tsx
@@ -3,42 +3,27 @@ import classNames from 'classnames';
 import { Picker } from 'emoji-mart';
 import { Constants } from '../../../session';
 
-interface Props {
+type Props = {
   onEmojiClicked: (emoji: any) => void;
   show: boolean;
-}
+};
 
-interface State {
-  // FIXME Use Emoji-Mart categories
-  category: null;
-}
+export const SessionEmojiPanel = (props: Props) => {
+  const { onEmojiClicked, show } = props;
 
-export class SessionEmojiPanel extends React.Component<Props, State> {
-  constructor(props: Props) {
-    super(props);
-
-    this.state = {
-      category: null,
-    };
-  }
-
-  public render() {
-    const { onEmojiClicked, show } = this.props;
-
-    return (
-      <div className={classNames('session-emoji-panel', show && 'show')}>
-        <Picker
-          backgroundImageFn={() => './images/emoji/emoji-sheet-twitter-32.png'}
-          set={'twitter'}
-          sheetSize={32}
-          darkMode={true}
-          color={Constants.UI.COLORS.GREEN}
-          showPreview={true}
-          title={''}
-          onSelect={onEmojiClicked}
-          autoFocus={true}
-        />
-      </div>
-    );
-  }
-}
+  return (
+    <div className={classNames('session-emoji-panel', show && 'show')}>
+      <Picker
+        backgroundImageFn={() => './images/emoji/emoji-sheet-twitter-32.png'}
+        set={'twitter'}
+        sheetSize={32}
+        darkMode={true}
+        color={Constants.UI.COLORS.GREEN}
+        showPreview={true}
+        title={''}
+        onSelect={onEmojiClicked}
+        autoFocus={true}
+      />
+    </div>
+  );
+};