diff --git a/lib/platform/github/storage.js b/lib/platform/github/storage.js
index cfe020353742f52e00469e44b22e410a03ee6d5f..e5f331b3fc65d31dfdedb39ba3aecf175ac01af9 100644
--- a/lib/platform/github/storage.js
+++ b/lib/platform/github/storage.js
@@ -250,12 +250,10 @@ class Storage {
       }
       if (res && res.body) {
         if (res.body.content) {
-          if (res.body.content.length) {
-            return Buffer.from(res.body.content, 'base64').toString();
-          }
-          // istanbul ignore next
-          return '';
+          return Buffer.from(res.body.content, 'base64').toString();
         }
+        // istanbul ignore next
+        return '';
       }
       return null;
     }
diff --git a/test/platform/github/index.spec.js b/test/platform/github/index.spec.js
index 346596dacbf8a8b7ec6a53b98b548dd6c289ac29..a41c2dcd9a652a4f5c84e942c2b3678483d6d396 100644
--- a/test/platform/github/index.spec.js
+++ b/test/platform/github/index.spec.js
@@ -1908,9 +1908,7 @@ describe('platform/github', () => {
           ],
         },
       }));
-      get.mockImplementationOnce(() => ({
-        body: {},
-      }));
+      get.mockImplementationOnce(() => ({}));
       const content = await github.getFile('package.json');
       expect(get.mock.calls).toMatchSnapshot();
       expect(content).toBe(null);