diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index ee0dca6129..496de11168 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -2133,10 +2133,6 @@ virJSONValueObjectStealObject;
 virJSONValueToString;
 
 
-# util/virjsoncompat.h
-virJSONInitialize;
-
-
 # util/virkeycode.h
 virKeycodeSetTypeFromString;
 virKeycodeSetTypeToString;
diff --git a/src/remote/remote_daemon.c b/src/remote/remote_daemon.c
index 8bbc3818bb..9f3a5f38ad 100644
--- a/src/remote/remote_daemon.c
+++ b/src/remote/remote_daemon.c
@@ -59,7 +59,6 @@
 #include "virutil.h"
 #include "virgettext.h"
 #include "util/virnetdevopenvswitch.h"
-#include "virjsoncompat.h"
 
 #include "driver.h"
 
@@ -1184,9 +1183,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
         exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
 
-    if (virJSONInitialize() < 0)
-        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-
     daemonSetupNetDevOpenvswitch(config);
 
     if (daemonSetupAccessManager(config) < 0) {