diff --git a/server/src-lib/Hasura/GraphQL/Transport/WebSocket.hs b/server/src-lib/Hasura/GraphQL/Transport/WebSocket.hs
index dd97b7a705e..23b643bea05 100644
--- a/server/src-lib/Hasura/GraphQL/Transport/WebSocket.hs
+++ b/server/src-lib/Hasura/GraphQL/Transport/WebSocket.hs
@@ -1004,7 +1004,7 @@ onMessage env enabledLogTypes authMode serverEnv wsConn msgRaw onMessageActions
       CMStop stopMsg -> onStop serverEnv wsConn stopMsg
       -- specfic to graphql-ws
       CMPing mPayload -> onPing wsConn mPayload
-      CMPong mPayload -> onPong wsConn mPayload
+      CMPong _mPayload -> pure ()
       -- specific to apollo clients
       CMConnTerm -> liftIO $ WS.closeConn wsConn "GQL_CONNECTION_TERMINATE received"
   where
@@ -1016,14 +1016,6 @@ onPing :: (MonadIO m) => WSConn -> Maybe PingPongPayload -> m ()
 onPing wsConn mPayload =
   liftIO $ sendMsg wsConn (SMPong mPayload)
 
-onPong :: (MonadIO m) => WSConn -> Maybe PingPongPayload -> m ()
-onPong wsConn mPayload = liftIO $ case mPayload of
-  Just message ->
-    when (message /= keepAliveMessage) $
-      sendMsg wsConn (SMPing mPayload)
-  -- NOTE: this is done to avoid sending Ping for every "keepalive" that the server sends
-  Nothing -> sendMsg wsConn $ SMPing Nothing
-
 onStop :: (MonadIO m) => WSServerEnv -> WSConn -> StopMsg -> m ()
 onStop serverEnv wsConn (StopMsg opId) = liftIO $ do
   -- When a stop message is received for an operation, it may not be present in OpMap
diff --git a/server/tests-py/context.py b/server/tests-py/context.py
index 0c78ef13ab4..78a4505ff8e 100644
--- a/server/tests-py/context.py
+++ b/server/tests-py/context.py
@@ -280,6 +280,9 @@ class GraphQLWSClient():
         if json_msg['type'] == 'ping':
             new_msg = json_msg
             new_msg['type'] = 'pong'
+            # Decline to reflect the payload of the ping, because the
+            # graphql-ws specification does not require it
+            new_msg.pop('payload')
             self.send(json.dumps(new_msg))
             return