diff --git a/flow/shared/telemetry/sns_message_sender.go b/flow/shared/telemetry/sns_message_sender.go
index 67cf3eebae..9d32dcf8f9 100644
--- a/flow/shared/telemetry/sns_message_sender.go
+++ b/flow/shared/telemetry/sns_message_sender.go
@@ -42,14 +42,14 @@ func (s *SNSMessageSenderImpl) SendMessage(ctx context.Context, subject string,
 	var messageSubjectBuilder strings.Builder
 	maxSubjectSize := 99
 	for currentLength, char := range subject {
+		if currentLength > maxSubjectSize {
+			break
+		}
 		if unicode.IsPrint(char) {
 			messageSubjectBuilder.WriteRune(char)
 		} else {
 			messageSubjectBuilder.WriteRune(' ')
 		}
-		if currentLength > maxSubjectSize {
-			break
-		}
 	}
 	publish, err := s.client.Publish(ctx, &sns.PublishInput{
 		Message: aws.String(body),