diff --git a/keyserver/api/api.go b/keyserver/api/api.go
index 3933961c1..a13697dd2 100644
--- a/keyserver/api/api.go
+++ b/keyserver/api/api.go
@@ -15,8 +15,10 @@
 package api
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -73,6 +75,22 @@ type DeviceMessage struct {
 	DeviceChangeID int64
 }
 
+func (m1 *DeviceMessage) DeviceKeysEqual(m2 *DeviceMessage) (bool, error) {
+	if m1.DeviceKeys == nil || m2.DeviceKeys == nil {
+		return false, fmt.Errorf("not device keys")
+	}
+	if m1.UserID != m2.UserID || m1.DeviceID != m2.DeviceID {
+		return false, fmt.Errorf("different user ID or device ID")
+	}
+	if len(m1.KeyJSON) == 0 || len(m2.KeyJSON) == 0 {
+		return false, nil
+	}
+	if m1.DisplayName != m2.DisplayName {
+		return false, nil
+	}
+	return bytes.Equal(m1.KeyJSON, m2.KeyJSON), nil
+}
+
 // DeviceKeys represents a set of device keys for a single device
 // https://matrix.org/docs/spec/client_server/r0.6.1#post-matrix-client-r0-keys-upload
 type DeviceKeys struct {
diff --git a/keyserver/internal/internal.go b/keyserver/internal/internal.go
index 0c264b718..7eeae5b20 100644
--- a/keyserver/internal/internal.go
+++ b/keyserver/internal/internal.go
@@ -718,7 +718,10 @@ func emitDeviceKeyChanges(producer KeyChangeProducer, existing, new []api.Device
 		for _, existingKey := range existing {
 			// Do not treat the absence of keys as equal, or else we will not emit key changes
 			// when users delete devices which never had a key to begin with as both KeyJSONs are nil.
-			if bytes.Equal(existingKey.KeyJSON, newKey.KeyJSON) && len(existingKey.KeyJSON) > 0 {
+			// if bytes.Equal(existingKey.KeyJSON, newKey.KeyJSON) && len(existingKey.KeyJSON) > 0 {
+			if equal, err := existingKey.DeviceKeysEqual(&newKey); err != nil {
+				continue
+			} else if equal {
 				exists = true
 				break
 			}