diff --git a/builtin-symbolic-ref.c b/builtin-symbolic-ref.c
index d41b40640b..9eb95e50da 100644
--- a/builtin-symbolic-ref.c
+++ b/builtin-symbolic-ref.c
@@ -43,8 +43,6 @@ int cmd_symbolic_ref(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			msg = argv[1];
 			if (!*msg)
 				die("Refusing to perform update with empty message");
-			if (strchr(msg, '\n'))
-				die("Refusing to perform update with \\n in message");
 		}
 		else if (!strcmp("--", arg)) {
 			argc--;
diff --git a/builtin-update-ref.c b/builtin-update-ref.c
index feac2ed12d..8339cf19e2 100644
--- a/builtin-update-ref.c
+++ b/builtin-update-ref.c
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@ int cmd_update_ref(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			msg = argv[++i];
 			if (!*msg)
 				die("Refusing to perform update with empty message.");
-			if (strchr(msg, '\n'))
-				die("Refusing to perform update with \\n in message.");
 			continue;
 		}
 		if (!strcmp("-d", argv[i])) {