diff --git a/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp/start_time_context.go b/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp/start_time_context.go
index 19631bff4c2..007088670fa 100644
--- a/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp/start_time_context.go
+++ b/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp/start_time_context.go
@@ -28,4 +28,3 @@ func StartTimeFromContext(ctx context.Context) time.Time {
 	return t
 }
 
-var zeroTime time.Time