diff --git a/script/bulk_import/base.rb b/script/bulk_import/base.rb
index 22898f0bec4..25b8b0fbc76 100644
--- a/script/bulk_import/base.rb
+++ b/script/bulk_import/base.rb
@@ -1908,7 +1908,7 @@ class BulkImport::Base
     message[:id] = @last_chat_message_id += 1
     message[:user_id] ||= Discourse::SYSTEM_USER_ID
     message[:last_editor_id] ||= message[:user_id]
-    message[:message] = (message[:message] || "").scrub.strip.presence || "<Empty imported message>"
+    message[:message] = (message[:message] || "").scrub.strip
     message[:message] = normalize_text(message[:message])
     message[:cooked] = ::Chat::Message.cook(message[:message], user_id: message[:last_editor_id])
     message[:cooked_version] = ::Chat::Message::BAKED_VERSION
diff --git a/script/bulk_import/generic_bulk.rb b/script/bulk_import/generic_bulk.rb
index be6cc1d7e83..67bdcb71915 100644
--- a/script/bulk_import/generic_bulk.rb
+++ b/script/bulk_import/generic_bulk.rb
@@ -2669,6 +2669,7 @@ class BulkImport::Generic < BulkImport::Base
       user_id = user_id_from_imported_id(row["user_id"])
 
       next if channel_id.blank? || user_id.blank?
+      next if row["message"].blank? && row["upload_ids"].blank?
 
       last_editor_id = user_id_from_imported_id(row["last_editor_id"])
       thread_id = chat_thread_id_from_original_id(row["thread_id"])