diff --git a/graphql/playground/playground.go b/graphql/playground/playground.go
index 720e1a1425..5f90b68965 100644
--- a/graphql/playground/playground.go
+++ b/graphql/playground/playground.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 var page = template.Must(template.New("graphiql").Parse(`<!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
   <head>
+  	<meta charset="utf-8">
   	<title>{{.title}}</title>
 	<style>
 		body {
@@ -75,7 +76,7 @@ var page = template.Must(template.New("graphiql").Parse(`<!DOCTYPE html>
 // Handler responsible for setting up the playground
 func Handler(title string, endpoint string) http.HandlerFunc {
 	return func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
-		w.Header().Add("Content-Type", "text/html")
+		w.Header().Add("Content-Type", "text/html; charset=UTF-8")
 		err := page.Execute(w, map[string]interface{}{
 			"title":                title,
 			"endpoint":             endpoint,
diff --git a/graphql/playground/playground_test.go b/graphql/playground/playground_test.go
index 44f4af9df7..9b873691d3 100644
--- a/graphql/playground/playground_test.go
+++ b/graphql/playground/playground_test.go
@@ -35,6 +35,11 @@ func TestHandler_createsAbsoluteURLs(t *testing.T) {
 	if !wantSubURL.Match(b) {
 		t.Errorf("no match for %s in response body", wantSubURL.String())
 	}
+
+	wantMetaCharsetElement := regexp.MustCompile(`<head>\n\s{0,}<meta charset="utf-8">\n\s{0,}.*<title>`) // <meta> element must be in <head> and before <title>
+	if !wantMetaCharsetElement.Match(b) {
+		t.Errorf("no match for %s in response body", wantMetaCharsetElement.String())
+	}
 }
 
 func TestHandler_createsRelativeURLs(t *testing.T) {
@@ -48,6 +53,9 @@ func TestHandler_createsRelativeURLs(t *testing.T) {
 	if res.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
 		t.Errorf("res.StatusCode = %d; want %d", res.StatusCode, http.StatusOK)
 	}
+	if res.Header.Get("Content-Type") != "text/html; charset=UTF-8" {
+		t.Errorf("res.Header.Get(\"Content-Type\") = %q; want %q", res.Header.Get("Content-Type"), "text/html; charset=UTF-8")
+	}
 
 	b, err := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
 	if err != nil {
