diff --git a/src/frontend/src/features/rooms/livekit/hooks/useRaisedHand.ts b/src/frontend/src/features/rooms/livekit/hooks/useRaisedHand.ts
index 0979403a..d54921b7 100644
--- a/src/frontend/src/features/rooms/livekit/hooks/useRaisedHand.ts
+++ b/src/frontend/src/features/rooms/livekit/hooks/useRaisedHand.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ type useRaisedHandProps = {
 export function useRaisedHand({ participant }: useRaisedHandProps) {
   // fixme - refactor this part to rely on attributes
   const { metadata } = useParticipantInfo({ participant })
-  const parsedMetadata = JSON.parse(metadata ?? '{}')
+  const parsedMetadata = JSON.parse(metadata || '{}')
 
   const toggleRaisedHand = () => {
     if (isLocal(participant)) {