diff --git a/src/topics/tags.js b/src/topics/tags.js
index d816d5c49c..48ef3dba41 100644
--- a/src/topics/tags.js
+++ b/src/topics/tags.js
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ module.exports = function(Topics) {
 		var maximumTopics = parseInt(meta.config.maximumRelatedTopics, 10) || 5;
 
 		if (!topicData.tags.length || maximumTopics === 0) {
-			return callback(null, topicData);
+			return callback(null, []);
 		}
 
 		async.waterfall([