diff --git a/packages/block-serialization-default-parser/class-wp-block-parser.php b/packages/block-serialization-default-parser/class-wp-block-parser.php
index 61f287b21fc4e8..5790e97f8cf298 100644
--- a/packages/block-serialization-default-parser/class-wp-block-parser.php
+++ b/packages/block-serialization-default-parser/class-wp-block-parser.php
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ public function parse( $document ) {
 		$this->offset      = 0;
 		$this->output      = array();
 		$this->stack       = array();
-		$this->empty_attrs = json_decode( '{}', true );
+		$this->empty_attrs = array();
 
 		while ( $this->proceed() ) {
 			continue;