diff --git a/gateway/stream_consumer.py b/gateway/stream_consumer.py
index 486d179de9..e743df8d59 100644
--- a/gateway/stream_consumer.py
+++ b/gateway/stream_consumer.py
@@ -491,6 +491,13 @@ class GatewayStreamConsumer:
         # Media files are delivered as native attachments after the stream
         # finishes (via _deliver_media_from_response in gateway/run.py).
         text = self._clean_for_display(text)
+        # A bare streaming cursor is not meaningful user-visible content and
+        # can render as a stray tofu/white-box message on some clients.
+        visible_without_cursor = text
+        if self.cfg.cursor:
+            visible_without_cursor = visible_without_cursor.replace(self.cfg.cursor, "")
+        if not visible_without_cursor.strip():
+            return True  # cursor-only / whitespace-only update
         if not text.strip():
             return True  # nothing to send is "success"
         try:
diff --git a/tests/gateway/test_stream_consumer.py b/tests/gateway/test_stream_consumer.py
index 8f7fb6dd5d..d66306722f 100644
--- a/tests/gateway/test_stream_consumer.py
+++ b/tests/gateway/test_stream_consumer.py
@@ -139,6 +139,22 @@ class TestSendOrEditMediaStripping:
 
         adapter.send.assert_not_called()
 
+    @pytest.mark.asyncio
+    async def test_cursor_only_update_skips_send(self):
+        """A bare streaming cursor should not be sent as its own message."""
+        adapter = MagicMock()
+        adapter.send = AsyncMock()
+        adapter.MAX_MESSAGE_LENGTH = 4096
+
+        consumer = GatewayStreamConsumer(
+            adapter,
+            "chat_123",
+            StreamConsumerConfig(cursor=" ▉"),
+        )
+        await consumer._send_or_edit(" ▉")
+
+        adapter.send.assert_not_called()
+
 
 # ── Integration: full stream run ─────────────────────────────────────────