diff --git a/searx/utils.py b/searx/utils.py
index 77c39290..1ec45ed6 100644
--- a/searx/utils.py
+++ b/searx/utils.py
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ if sys.version_info[0] == 3:
     unichr = chr
     unicode = str
     IS_PY2 = False
+    basestring = str
 else:
     IS_PY2 = True