diff --git a/src/Cite.php b/src/Cite.php
index fe6ff4aba..ae012cb07 100644
--- a/src/Cite.php
+++ b/src/Cite.php
@@ -241,10 +241,7 @@ class Cite {
 			return StatusValue::newFatal( 'cite_error_references_no_key' );
 		}
 
-		// This doesn't catch the null case because that's guaranteed to trigger other errors
-		// FIXME: We allow whitespace-only text, should this be invalid?  It leaves a
-		//  loophole around the trimmed-text test outside of <references>.
-		if ( $text === '' ) {
+		if ( $text === null || trim( $text ) === '' ) {
 			// <ref> called in <references> has no content.
 			return StatusValue::newFatal(
 				'cite_error_empty_references_define',
diff --git a/tests/parser/citeParserTests.txt b/tests/parser/citeParserTests.txt
index 29e4a4156..dc7cb77e9 100644
--- a/tests/parser/citeParserTests.txt
+++ b/tests/parser/citeParserTests.txt
@@ -639,12 +639,43 @@ Attributes are trimmed by the parser, see Sanitizer::decodeTagAttributes()
 <li id="cite_note-foo-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-foo_1-0">↑</a></span> <span class="error mw-ext-cite-error" lang="en" dir="ltr">Cite error: Invalid <code>&lt;ref&gt;</code> tag;
 no text was provided for refs named <code>foo</code></span></li>
 </ol></div>
-<p><span class="error mw-ext-cite-error" lang="en" dir="ltr">Cite error: <code>&lt;ref&gt;</code> tag with name "unused" defined in <code>&lt;references&gt;</code> is not used in prior text.</span><br />
+<p><span class="error mw-ext-cite-error" lang="en" dir="ltr">Cite error: <code>&lt;ref&gt;</code> tag defined in <code>&lt;references&gt;</code> with name "foo" has no content.</span><br />
+<span class="error mw-ext-cite-error" lang="en" dir="ltr">Cite error: <code>&lt;ref&gt;</code> tag with name "unused" defined in <code>&lt;references&gt;</code> is not used in prior text.</span><br />
 <span class="error mw-ext-cite-error" lang="en" dir="ltr">Cite error: <code>&lt;ref&gt;</code> tag in <code>&lt;references&gt;</code> has conflicting group attribute "1".</span><br />
 <span class="error mw-ext-cite-error" lang="en" dir="ltr">Cite error: <code>&lt;ref&gt;</code> tag defined in <code>&lt;references&gt;</code> has no name attribute.</span>
 </p>
 !! end
 
+!! test
+Error conditions on non-visible content
+!! wikitext
+<ref name="a">x</ref>
+<ref name="b"> </ref>
+<ref name="c" />
+<references>
+<ref name="a" />
+<ref name="b" />
+<ref name="c"> </ref>
+</references>
+!! html
+<p><sup id="cite_ref-a_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-a-1">&#91;1&#93;</a></sup>
+<sup id="cite_ref-b_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-b-2">&#91;2&#93;</a></sup>
+<sup id="cite_ref-c_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-c-3">&#91;3&#93;</a></sup>
+</p>
+<div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references">
+<li id="cite_note-a-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-a_1-0">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">x</span>
+</li>
+<li id="cite_note-b-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-b_2-0">↑</a></span> <span class="error mw-ext-cite-error" lang="en" dir="ltr">Cite error: Invalid <code>&lt;ref&gt;</code> tag;
+no text was provided for refs named <code>b</code></span></li>
+<li id="cite_note-c-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-c_3-0">↑</a></span> <span class="error mw-ext-cite-error" lang="en" dir="ltr">Cite error: Invalid <code>&lt;ref&gt;</code> tag;
+no text was provided for refs named <code>c</code></span></li>
+</ol></div>
+<p><span class="error mw-ext-cite-error" lang="en" dir="ltr">Cite error: <code>&lt;ref&gt;</code> tag defined in <code>&lt;references&gt;</code> with name "a" has no content.</span><br />
+<span class="error mw-ext-cite-error" lang="en" dir="ltr">Cite error: <code>&lt;ref&gt;</code> tag defined in <code>&lt;references&gt;</code> with name "b" has no content.</span><br />
+<span class="error mw-ext-cite-error" lang="en" dir="ltr">Cite error: <code>&lt;ref&gt;</code> tag defined in <code>&lt;references&gt;</code> with name "c" has no content.</span>
+</p>
+!! end
+
 !! article
 MediaWiki:cite_link_label_group-klingon
 !! text