diff --git a/api-tests/server/helpers.go b/api-tests/server/helpers.go
index 381ebb77da..969a90786e 100644
--- a/api-tests/server/helpers.go
+++ b/api-tests/server/helpers.go
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ func RestoreSettingsDefaults(t *testing.T) {
 	res, err := serverClient.Default.ServerService.ChangeSettings(&server.ChangeSettingsParams{
 		Body: server.ChangeSettingsBody{
 			EnableAdvisor:   new(true),
-			EnableTelemetry: new(true),
+			EnableTelemetry: new(false),
 			EnableAlerting:  new(true),
 			EnableUpdates:   new(true),
 			MetricsResolutions: &server.ChangeSettingsParamsBodyMetricsResolutions{
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ func RestoreSettingsDefaults(t *testing.T) {
 		Context: pmmapitests.Context,
 	})
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.True(t, res.Payload.Settings.TelemetryEnabled)
+	assert.False(t, res.Payload.Settings.TelemetryEnabled)
 	assert.True(t, res.Payload.Settings.AdvisorEnabled)
 	expectedResolutions := &server.ChangeSettingsOKBodySettingsMetricsResolutions{
 		Hr: "5s",
diff --git a/api-tests/server/settings/settings_test.go b/api-tests/server/settings/settings_test.go
index e4ef24f9cb..facce7c76d 100644
--- a/api-tests/server/settings/settings_test.go
+++ b/api-tests/server/settings/settings_test.go
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ func TestSettings(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Run("GetSettings", func(t *testing.T) {
 		res, err := serverClient.Default.ServerService.GetSettings(nil)
 		require.NoError(t, err)
-		assert.True(t, res.Payload.Settings.TelemetryEnabled)
+		assert.False(t, res.Payload.Settings.TelemetryEnabled)
 		assert.True(t, res.Payload.Settings.AdvisorEnabled)
 		expected := &server.GetSettingsOKBodySettingsMetricsResolutions{
 			Hr: "5s",
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ func TestSettings(t *testing.T) {
 
 				resg, err := serverClient.Default.ServerService.GetSettings(nil)
 				require.NoError(t, err)
-				assert.True(t, resg.Payload.Settings.TelemetryEnabled)
+				assert.False(t, resg.Payload.Settings.TelemetryEnabled)
 				assert.False(t, resg.Payload.Settings.AdvisorEnabled)
 			})
 
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ func TestSettings(t *testing.T) {
 
 				resg, err := serverClient.Default.ServerService.GetSettings(nil)
 				require.NoError(t, err)
-				assert.True(t, resg.Payload.Settings.TelemetryEnabled)
+				assert.False(t, resg.Payload.Settings.TelemetryEnabled)
 				assert.True(t, resg.Payload.Settings.AdvisorEnabled)
 
 				t.Run("EnableAdvisorsWhileItIsEnabled", func(t *testing.T) {
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ func TestSettings(t *testing.T) {
 
 					resg, err := serverClient.Default.ServerService.GetSettings(nil)
 					require.NoError(t, err)
-					assert.True(t, resg.Payload.Settings.TelemetryEnabled)
+					assert.False(t, resg.Payload.Settings.TelemetryEnabled)
 					assert.True(t, resg.Payload.Settings.AdvisorEnabled)
 				})
 
diff --git a/build/docker/server/Dockerfile.el9 b/build/docker/server/Dockerfile.el9
index 57e0b95940..9b52ce2c3f 100644
--- a/build/docker/server/Dockerfile.el9
+++ b/build/docker/server/Dockerfile.el9
@@ -2,10 +2,12 @@ FROM oraclelinux:9-slim
 
 ARG VERSION
 ARG BUILD_DATE
+ARG PMM_ENABLE_TELEMETRY=0
 
 ENV LANG=en_US.utf8
 ENV GF_PLUGIN_DIR=/srv/grafana/plugins
 ENV PERCONA_TELEMETRY_DISABLE=1
+ENV PMM_ENABLE_TELEMETRY=${PMM_ENABLE_TELEMETRY}
 ENV PS1="[\u@\h \W] # "
 
 WORKDIR /opt
diff --git a/build/scripts/build-server-docker b/build/scripts/build-server-docker
index 221e5067f1..370b5b132a 100755
--- a/build/scripts/build-server-docker
+++ b/build/scripts/build-server-docker
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ GO_VERSION=$(grep '^go ' ${root_dir}/tmp/source/pmm/go.mod | awk '{print $2}')
 docker build --build-arg BUILD_DATE="`date --rfc-3339=seconds`" \
              --build-arg VERSION="$IMAGE_VERSION" \
              --build-arg GO_VERSION="$GO_VERSION" \
+             --build-arg PMM_ENABLE_TELEMETRY="${PMM_ENABLE_TELEMETRY:-0}" \
              -f ${docker_root}/${docker_file} \
              -t ${DOCKER_TAG} \
              ${docker_root}/
diff --git a/dev/api/run-tests.sh b/dev/api/run-tests.sh
index 73f4aa86f1..afdabd3dbd 100755
--- a/dev/api/run-tests.sh
+++ b/dev/api/run-tests.sh
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ pmm-api() {
     -e AWS_ACCESS_KEY \
     -e AWS_SECRET_KEY \
     -e PMM_ENABLE_ACCESS_CONTROL=1 \
-    -e PMM_ENABLE_TELEMETRY=0 \
     -v pmm-data:/srv \
     "${PMM_SERVER_IMAGE:-perconalab/pmm-server:3-dev-latest}"
 
diff --git a/managed/models/settings.go b/managed/models/settings.go
index be03684d78..3e7b37b52d 100644
--- a/managed/models/settings.go
+++ b/managed/models/settings.go
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import (
 const (
 	AdvisorsEnabledDefault             = true
 	AlertingEnabledDefault             = true
-	TelemetryEnabledDefault            = true
+	TelemetryEnabledDefault            = false
 	UpdatesEnabledDefault              = true
 	BackupManagementEnabledDefault     = true
 	VictoriaMetricsCacheEnabledDefault = false
diff --git a/managed/services/telemetry/telemetry_test.go b/managed/services/telemetry/telemetry_test.go
index 293e3d6085..718159a32a 100644
--- a/managed/services/telemetry/telemetry_test.go
+++ b/managed/services/telemetry/telemetry_test.go
@@ -155,6 +155,11 @@ func TestRunTelemetryService(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 	db := reform.NewDB(sqlDB, postgresql.Dialect, nil)
 
+	_, err := models.UpdateSettings(db, &models.ChangeSettingsParams{
+		EnableTelemetry: new(true),
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Parallel()
@@ -194,7 +199,7 @@ func TestRunSkipsNonReleaseVersion(t *testing.T) {
 	logEntry := logrus.NewEntry(logger)
 
 	// Settings JSON with a pre-existing UUID so makeMetric won't attempt an UPDATE.
-	settingsJSON := []byte(`{"telemetry":{"uuid":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001"}}`)
+	settingsJSON := []byte(`{"telemetry":{"enabled":true,"uuid":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001"}}`)
 
 	tests := []struct {
 		version string