MOTDs/formatting-in-channels get replaced with broken html content

[Zarthus]

A snippet from the motd of nova.esper.net, as viewed on kiwiirc.com:

-   Channels of note:
-      <a class="chan" data-channel="#<span class=" format_span"="" style="font-weight: bold; ">dragonweyr"&gt;#<span class="format_span" style="font-weight: bold; ">dragonweyr</span></a>      - Issues requiring network staff intervention.
-      <a class="chan" data-channel="#<span class=" format_span"="" style="font-weight: bold; ">help"&gt;#<span class="format_span" style="font-weight: bold; ">help</span></a>            - General IRC help.
-      <a class="chan" data-channel="#<span class=" format_span"="" style="font-weight: bold; ">lobby"&gt;#<span class="format_span" style="font-weight: bold; ">lobby</span></a>           - General chat.
-      (Note: these names have been bolded to prevent them from being clickable
-         by certain browser-based clients. To join a channel, type /join name.)

Actual motd (copied with formatting):

-   Channels of note:
-      #dragonweyr      - Issues requiring network staff intervention.
-      #help            - General IRC help.
-      #lobby           - General chat.
-      (Note: these names have been bolded to prevent them from being clickable
-         by certain browser-based clients. To join a channel, type /join name.)