diff --git a/chain/events/filter/index.go b/chain/events/filter/index.go
index 45cabaa11..1920a91fe 100644
--- a/chain/events/filter/index.go
+++ b/chain/events/filter/index.go
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ func (ei *EventIndex) CollectEvents(ctx context.Context, te *TipSetEvents, rever
 // This function swallows errors and returns the original array if it failed
 // to decode.
 func decodeLogBytes(orig []byte) []byte {
-	if orig == nil {
+	if len(orig) == 0 {
 		return orig
 	}
 	decoded, err := cbg.ReadByteArray(bytes.NewReader(orig), uint64(len(orig)))
diff --git a/itests/eth_filter_test.go b/itests/eth_filter_test.go
index 05201dcf6..a3bc3e04e 100644
--- a/itests/eth_filter_test.go
+++ b/itests/eth_filter_test.go
@@ -1909,7 +1909,7 @@ func ParseEthLog(in map[string]interface{}) (*ethtypes.EthLog, error) {
 }
 
 func decodeLogBytes(orig []byte) []byte {
-	if orig == nil {
+	if len(orig) == 0 {
 		return orig
 	}
 	decoded, err := cbg.ReadByteArray(bytes.NewReader(orig), uint64(len(orig)))