diff --git a/gateway/delivery.py b/gateway/delivery.py
index 6357eafef4..6585cfbe1e 100644
--- a/gateway/delivery.py
+++ b/gateway/delivery.py
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ class DeliveryTarget:
         """Convert back to string format."""
         if self.is_origin:
             return "origin"
-        if self.unknown_platform:
+        if self.unknown_platform is not None:
             return self.unknown_platform
         if self.platform == Platform.LOCAL:
             return "local"
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ class DeliveryRouter:
         """Deliver content to all targets; returns per-target results keyed by target string."""
         results = {}
         for target in targets:
-            if target.unknown_platform:
+            if target.unknown_platform is not None:
                 results[target.to_string()] = {
                     "success": False, "error": f"unknown_platform: {target.unknown_platform}"}
                 continue
diff --git a/tests/gateway/test_delivery_unknown_target.py b/tests/gateway/test_delivery_unknown_target.py
index 3ff7623583..4ce705d1fb 100644
--- a/tests/gateway/test_delivery_unknown_target.py
+++ b/tests/gateway/test_delivery_unknown_target.py
@@ -9,11 +9,13 @@ from gateway.delivery import DeliveryRouter, DeliveryTarget
 
 
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
-async def test_unknown_destination_fails_without_writing_and_local_still_works(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("raw", ["MisspelledPlatform:ChatID:ThreadID", "", "   "])
+async def test_unknown_destination_fails_without_writing_and_local_still_works(tmp_path, monkeypatch, raw):
     monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(tmp_path))
     router = DeliveryRouter(GatewayConfig())
-    raw = "MisspelledPlatform:ChatID:ThreadID"
-    result = await router.deliver("must not save", [DeliveryTarget.parse(raw)], job_id="bad")
+    target = DeliveryTarget.parse(raw)
+    raw = raw.strip()
+    result = await router.deliver("must not save", [target], job_id="bad")
     assert not any(receipt["success"] for receipt in result.values()), result
     assert raw in result
     assert result[raw]["error"] == f"unknown_platform: {raw}"