diff --git a/cpp/examples/strings/custom_optimized.cu b/cpp/examples/strings/custom_optimized.cu
index 522093bc647..aa1468ea790 100644
--- a/cpp/examples/strings/custom_optimized.cu
+++ b/cpp/examples/strings/custom_optimized.cu
@@ -155,8 +155,7 @@ std::unique_ptr<cudf::column> redact_strings(cudf::column_view const& names,
     *d_names, *d_visibilities, offsets.data(), chars.data());
 
   // create column from offsets and chars vectors (no copy is performed)
-  auto result =
-    cudf::make_strings_column(names.size(), std::move(offsets), std::move(chars), {}, 0);
+  auto result = cudf::make_strings_column(names.size(), std::move(offsets), chars.release(), {}, 0);
 
   // wait for all of the above to finish
   stream.synchronize();