diff --git a/lib/platform/github/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap b/lib/platform/github/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap
index 71f24b657b40bf6d3da5cc28b7cb1b98b8f06313..eaec3c89ba6dd4cfc8156b8dc55489a3ee69cb5a 100644
--- a/lib/platform/github/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap
+++ b/lib/platform/github/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap
@@ -1590,12 +1590,12 @@ Array [
     "url": "https://api.github.com/graphql",
   },
   Object {
-    "body": "{\\"title\\":\\"new-title\\",\\"body\\":\\"new-content\\"}",
+    "body": "{\\"title\\":\\"new-title\\",\\"body\\":\\"new-content\\",\\"labels\\":[]}",
     "headers": Object {
       "accept": "application/vnd.github.v3+json",
       "accept-encoding": "gzip, deflate, br",
       "authorization": "token abc123",
-      "content-length": "42",
+      "content-length": "54",
       "content-type": "application/json",
       "host": "api.github.com",
       "user-agent": "RenovateBot/0.0.0-semantic-release (https://github.com/renovatebot/renovate)",
@@ -1840,12 +1840,12 @@ Array [
     "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/some/repo/issues/2",
   },
   Object {
-    "body": "{\\"title\\":\\"title-2\\",\\"body\\":\\"new-content\\"}",
+    "body": "{\\"title\\":\\"title-2\\",\\"body\\":\\"new-content\\",\\"labels\\":[]}",
     "headers": Object {
       "accept": "application/vnd.github.v3+json",
       "accept-encoding": "gzip, deflate, br",
       "authorization": "token abc123",
-      "content-length": "40",
+      "content-length": "52",
       "content-type": "application/json",
       "host": "api.github.com",
       "user-agent": "RenovateBot/0.0.0-semantic-release (https://github.com/renovatebot/renovate)",
diff --git a/lib/platform/github/index.ts b/lib/platform/github/index.ts
index 7d78bf5dd17239ec875db7a9ad90f6230a4fcd37..2f16a60a44a4d3c3ef11230176171976c94f7bbb 100644
--- a/lib/platform/github/index.ts
+++ b/lib/platform/github/index.ts
@@ -1136,7 +1136,7 @@ export async function ensureIssue({
         body: {
           title,
           body,
-          labels,
+          labels: labels || [],
         },
       }
     );
diff --git a/lib/platform/gitlab/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap b/lib/platform/gitlab/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap
index d1499c65bebe09c5c93e9f83c842cecdaf3dd44b..91bbdf4f7840f156051e95305b7808a2001b52fb 100644
--- a/lib/platform/gitlab/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap
+++ b/lib/platform/gitlab/__snapshots__/index.spec.ts.snap
@@ -684,12 +684,12 @@ Array [
     "url": "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/undefined/issues?per_page=100&author_id=undefined&state=opened",
   },
   Object {
-    "body": "{\\"title\\":\\"new-title\\",\\"description\\":\\"new-content\\"}",
+    "body": "{\\"title\\":\\"new-title\\",\\"description\\":\\"new-content\\",\\"labels\\":[]}",
     "headers": Object {
       "accept": "application/json",
       "accept-encoding": "gzip, deflate, br",
       "authorization": "Bearer abc123",
-      "content-length": "49",
+      "content-length": "61",
       "content-type": "application/json",
       "host": "gitlab.com",
       "user-agent": "RenovateBot/0.0.0-semantic-release (https://github.com/renovatebot/renovate)",
diff --git a/lib/platform/gitlab/index.ts b/lib/platform/gitlab/index.ts
index 18125a3e264a295360b1dfa70b62303dcbb59fbe..7c43c8fe1d089c7356f716431413499df2cb88ac 100644
--- a/lib/platform/gitlab/index.ts
+++ b/lib/platform/gitlab/index.ts
@@ -824,7 +824,7 @@ export async function ensureIssue({
         body: {
           title,
           description,
-          labels,
+          labels: labels || [],
         },
       });
       logger.info('Issue created');