diff --git a/frontend_tests/run-casper b/frontend_tests/run-casper
index 58fe93d486..0806704540 100755
--- a/frontend_tests/run-casper
+++ b/frontend_tests/run-casper
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ import glob
 
 os.environ["CASPER_TESTS"] = "1"
 os.environ["PHANTOMJS_EXECUTABLE"] = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "../node_modules/.bin/phantomjs")
+os.environ["http_proxy"] = ""
+os.environ["https_proxy"] = ""
 
 usage = """%prog [options]
     test-js-with-casper # Run all test files
diff --git a/tools/test-backend b/tools/test-backend
index b395aab96c..539ccbaee6 100755
--- a/tools/test-backend
+++ b/tools/test-backend
@@ -113,6 +113,11 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     TOOLS_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
     os.chdir(os.path.dirname(TOOLS_DIR))
     sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(TOOLS_DIR))
+
+    # Remove proxy settings for running backend tests
+    os.environ["http_proxy"] = ""
+    os.environ["https_proxy"] = ""
+
     from zerver.lib.test_fixtures import is_template_database_current
 
     from tools.lib.test_script import (