diff --git a/controller/JSONDB.cpp b/controller/JSONDB.cpp
index bb0b98ed1..59110f257 100644
--- a/controller/JSONDB.cpp
+++ b/controller/JSONDB.cpp
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 
 namespace ZeroTier {
 
-static const nlohmann::json _EMPTY_JSON({{}});
+static const nlohmann::json _EMPTY_JSON(nlohmann::json::object());
 
 bool JSONDB::put(const std::string &n,const nlohmann::json &obj)
 {