diff --git a/includes/classes/Indexable/Post/Post.php b/includes/classes/Indexable/Post/Post.php
index 256cf20950..27e7ba6a99 100644
--- a/includes/classes/Indexable/Post/Post.php
+++ b/includes/classes/Indexable/Post/Post.php
@@ -888,6 +888,32 @@ public function format_args( $args, $wp_query ) {
 		);
 		$use_filters = false;
 
+		// Sanitize array query args. Elasticsearch will error if a terms query contains empty items like an
+		// empty string.
+		$keys_to_sanitize = [
+			'author__in',
+			'author__not_in',
+			'category__and',
+			'category__in',
+			'category__not_in',
+			'tag__and',
+			'tag__in',
+			'tag__not_in',
+			'tag_slug__and',
+			'tag_slug__in',
+			'post_parent__in',
+			'post_parent__not_in',
+			'post__in',
+			'post__not_in',
+			'post_name__in',
+		];
+		foreach ( $keys_to_sanitize as $key ) {
+			if ( ! isset( $args[ $key ] ) ) {
+				continue;
+			}
+			$args[ $key ] = array_filter( (array) $args[ $key ] );
+		}
+
 		/**
 		 * Tax Query support
 		 *