diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/app/models/post.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/app/models/post.js
index 69cdd292f9b..d6264dac0ba 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/app/models/post.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/app/models/post.js
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ function trackedPostProperty(target, propertyKey, descriptor) {
 
 export default class Post extends RestModel {
   static munge(json) {
-    json.likeAction = null;
+    json.likeAction ??= null;
     if (json.actions_summary) {
       const lookup = EmberObject.create();
 
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/tests/unit/models/post-test.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/tests/unit/models/post-test.js
index dc30ffca4a8..0a44de6e418 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/tests/unit/models/post-test.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/tests/unit/models/post-test.js
@@ -43,6 +43,12 @@ module("Unit | Model | post", function (hooks) {
       likeAction: null, // `likeAction` is a tracked property from the model added using `@trackedPostProperty`
     });
 
+    // asserts that Object.keys(post) does not contain "likeAction"
+    assert.false(
+      Object.keys(post).includes("likeAction"),
+      "Object.keys does not enumerate `likeAction`"
+    );
+
     post.updateFromPost(
       this.store.createRecord("post", {
         raw: "different raw",
@@ -131,6 +137,6 @@ module("Unit | Model | post", function (hooks) {
       id: 1173,
     });
 
-    assert.ok(post.likeAction === null, "likeAction was reset to null");
+    assert.strictEqual(post.likeAction, null, "likeAction was reset to null");
   });
 });