diff --git a/src/Web/ActivityPub.hs b/src/Web/ActivityPub.hs
index 357bcb1..61e899e 100644
--- a/src/Web/ActivityPub.hs
+++ b/src/Web/ActivityPub.hs
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ instance ActivityPub Actor where
                 <*> withAuthorityMaybeO authority (o .:? "followers")
                 <*> withAuthorityMaybeO authority (o .:? "following")
                 <*> withAuthorityT authority (parsePublicKeySet =<< o .: "publicKey")
-                <*> (traverse (withAuthorityO authority . return) =<< o .: "sshKey")
+                <*> (traverse (withAuthorityO authority . return) =<< o .:? "sshKey" .!= [])
     toSeries authority
         (Actor id_ typ musername mname msummary inbox outbox followers following pkeys skeys)
             =  "id"                .=     ObjURI authority id_