diff --git a/snscrape/base.py b/snscrape/base.py
index 6860845..dcf4181 100644
--- a/snscrape/base.py
+++ b/snscrape/base.py
@@ -217,3 +217,13 @@ class Scraper:
 	@classmethod
 	def _construct(cls, argparseArgs, *args, **kwargs):
 		return cls(*args, **kwargs, retries = argparseArgs.retries)
+
+
+def nonempty_string(name):
+	def f(s):
+		s = s.strip()
+		if s:
+			return s
+		raise ValueError('must not be an empty string')
+	f.__name__ = name
+	return f
diff --git a/snscrape/modules/facebook.py b/snscrape/modules/facebook.py
index db205f5..cefe14c 100644
--- a/snscrape/modules/facebook.py
+++ b/snscrape/modules/facebook.py
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ class FacebookUserAndCommunityScraper(FacebookCommonScraper):
 
 	@classmethod
 	def setup_parser(cls, subparser):
-		subparser.add_argument('username', help = 'A Facebook username or user ID')
+		subparser.add_argument('username', type = snscrape.base.nonempty_string('username'), help = 'A Facebook username or user ID')
 
 	@classmethod
 	def from_args(cls, args):
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ class FacebookGroupScraper(FacebookCommonScraper):
 
 	@classmethod
 	def setup_parser(cls, subparser):
-		subparser.add_argument('group', help = 'A group name or ID')
+		subparser.add_argument('group', type = snscrape.base.nonempty_string('group'), help = 'A group name or ID')
 
 	@classmethod
 	def from_args(cls, args):
diff --git a/snscrape/modules/instagram.py b/snscrape/modules/instagram.py
index cb4f5d3..442b1f2 100644
--- a/snscrape/modules/instagram.py
+++ b/snscrape/modules/instagram.py
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ class InstagramUserScraper(InstagramCommonScraper):
 
 	@classmethod
 	def setup_parser(cls, subparser):
-		subparser.add_argument('username', help = 'An Instagram username (no leading @)')
+		subparser.add_argument('username', type = snscrape.base.nonempty_string('username'), help = 'An Instagram username (no leading @)')
 
 	@classmethod
 	def from_args(cls, args):
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ class InstagramHashtagScraper(InstagramCommonScraper):
 
 	@classmethod
 	def setup_parser(cls, subparser):
-		subparser.add_argument('hashtag', help = 'An Instagram hashtag (no leading #)')
+		subparser.add_argument('hashtag', type = snscrape.base.nonempty_string('hashtag'), help = 'An Instagram hashtag (no leading #)')
 
 	@classmethod
 	def from_args(cls, args):
diff --git a/snscrape/modules/reddit.py b/snscrape/modules/reddit.py
index bc4c721..d8acb38 100644
--- a/snscrape/modules/reddit.py
+++ b/snscrape/modules/reddit.py
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ def _make_scraper(name_, validationFunc, apiField):
 		@classmethod
 		def setup_parser(cls, subparser):
 			super()._setup_parser_opts(subparser)
-			subparser.add_argument(name_)
+			subparser.add_argument(name_, type = snscrape.base.nonempty_string(name_))
 
 		@classmethod
 		def from_args(cls, args):
diff --git a/snscrape/modules/telegram.py b/snscrape/modules/telegram.py
index 8b64ca3..04a229c 100644
--- a/snscrape/modules/telegram.py
+++ b/snscrape/modules/telegram.py
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ class TelegramChannelScraper(snscrape.base.Scraper):
 
 	@classmethod
 	def setup_parser(cls, subparser):
-		subparser.add_argument('channel', help = 'A channel name')
+		subparser.add_argument('channel', type = snscrape.base.nonempty_string('channel'), help = 'A channel name')
 
 	@classmethod
 	def from_args(cls, args):
diff --git a/snscrape/modules/twitter.py b/snscrape/modules/twitter.py
index 3f08efe..1e96a36 100644
--- a/snscrape/modules/twitter.py
+++ b/snscrape/modules/twitter.py
@@ -495,6 +495,8 @@ class TwitterSearchScraper(TwitterAPIScraper):
 	name = 'twitter-search'
 
 	def __init__(self, query, cursor = None, top = False, **kwargs):
+		if not query.strip():
+			raise ValueError('empty query')
 		super().__init__(baseUrl = 'https://twitter.com/search?' + urllib.parse.urlencode({'f': 'live', 'lang': 'en', 'q': query, 'src': 'spelling_expansion_revert_click'}), **kwargs)
 		self._query = query  # Note: may get replaced by subclasses when using user ID resolution
 		self._cursor = cursor
@@ -511,6 +513,8 @@ class TwitterSearchScraper(TwitterAPIScraper):
 		return True, None
 
 	def get_items(self):
+		if not self._query.strip():
+			raise ValueError('empty query')
 		paginationParams = {
 			'include_profile_interstitial_type': '1',
 			'include_blocking': '1',
@@ -556,7 +560,7 @@ class TwitterSearchScraper(TwitterAPIScraper):
 	def setup_parser(cls, subparser):
 		subparser.add_argument('--cursor', metavar = 'CURSOR')
 		subparser.add_argument('--top', action = 'store_true', default = False, help = 'Enable fetching top tweets instead of live/chronological')
-		subparser.add_argument('query', help = 'A Twitter search string')
+		subparser.add_argument('query', type = snscrape.base.nonempty_string('query'), help = 'A Twitter search string')
 
 	@classmethod
 	def from_args(cls, args):
@@ -695,7 +699,7 @@ class TwitterHashtagScraper(TwitterSearchScraper):
 
 	@classmethod
 	def setup_parser(cls, subparser):
-		subparser.add_argument('hashtag', help = 'A Twitter hashtag (without #)')
+		subparser.add_argument('hashtag', type = snscrape.base.nonempty_string('hashtag'), help = 'A Twitter hashtag (without #)')
 
 	@classmethod
 	def from_args(cls, args):
@@ -795,7 +799,7 @@ class TwitterListPostsScraper(TwitterSearchScraper):
 
 	@classmethod
 	def setup_parser(cls, subparser):
-		subparser.add_argument('list', help = 'A Twitter list ID or a string of the form "username/listname" (replace spaces with dashes)')
+		subparser.add_argument('list', type = snscrape.base.nonempty_string('list'), help = 'A Twitter list ID or a string of the form "username/listname" (replace spaces with dashes)')
 
 	@classmethod
 	def from_args(cls, args):
diff --git a/snscrape/modules/vkontakte.py b/snscrape/modules/vkontakte.py
index 1703baf..aef0610 100644
--- a/snscrape/modules/vkontakte.py
+++ b/snscrape/modules/vkontakte.py
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ class VKontakteUserScraper(snscrape.base.Scraper):
 
 	@classmethod
 	def setup_parser(cls, subparser):
-		subparser.add_argument('username', help = 'A VK username')
+		subparser.add_argument('username', type = snscrape.base.nonempty_string('username'), help = 'A VK username')
 
 	@classmethod
 	def from_args(cls, args):
diff --git a/snscrape/modules/weibo.py b/snscrape/modules/weibo.py
index d972461..395fc1f 100644
--- a/snscrape/modules/weibo.py
+++ b/snscrape/modules/weibo.py
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ class WeiboUserScraper(snscrape.base.Scraper):
 
 	@classmethod
 	def setup_parser(cls, subparser):
-		subparser.add_argument('user', help = 'A user name or ID')
+		subparser.add_argument('user', type = snscrape.base.nonempty_string('user'), help = 'A user name or ID')
 
 	@classmethod
 	def from_args(cls, args):