diff --git a/browser-index.js b/browser-index.js
index 32b62640cb9..cc7e50fe811 100644
--- a/browser-index.js
+++ b/browser-index.js
@@ -1,5 +1,17 @@
 var matrixcs = require("./lib/matrix");
-matrixcs.request(require("request"));
+const request = require('browser-request');
+const queryString = require('qs');
+
+matrixcs.request(function(opts, fn) {
+    // We manually fix the query string for browser-request because
+    // it doesn't correctly handle cases like ?via=one&via=two. Instead
+    // we mimic `request`'s query string interface to make it all work
+    // as expected.
+    // browser-request will happily take the constructed string as the
+    // query string without trying to modify it further.
+    opts.qs = queryString.stringify(opts.qs || {}, opts.qsStringifyOptions);
+    return request(opts, fn);
+});
 
 // just *accessing* indexedDB throws an exception in firefox with
 // indexeddb disabled.
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 5dfc84c943c..26608e1e22f 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@
     "content-type": "^1.0.2",
     "loglevel": "1.6.1",
     "memfs": "^2.10.1",
+    "qs": "^6.5.2",
     "request": "^2.88.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {