diff --git a/internal/telemetry/trace/client.go b/internal/telemetry/trace/client.go
index 0dcf332f9..f72d66d11 100644
--- a/internal/telemetry/trace/client.go
+++ b/internal/telemetry/trace/client.go
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ import (
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracegrpc"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracehttp"
+	oteltrace "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace/noop"
 	v1 "go.opentelemetry.io/proto/otlp/trace/v1"
 )
 
@@ -226,6 +228,36 @@ func (n NoopClient) UploadTraces(context.Context, []*v1.ResourceSpans) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// ValidNoopSpan is the same as noop.Span, except with a "valid" span context
+// (has a non-zero trace and span ID).
+//
+// Adding this into a context as follows:
+//
+//	ctx = oteltrace.ContextWithSpan(ctx, trace.ValidNoopSpan{})
+//
+// will prevent some usages of the global tracer provider by libraries such
+// as otelhttp, which only uses the global provider if the context's span
+// is "invalid".
+type ValidNoopSpan struct {
+	noop.Span
+}
+
+var noopTraceID = oteltrace.TraceID{
+	0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF,
+	0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF,
+}
+
+var noopSpanID = oteltrace.SpanID{
+	0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF,
+}
+
+// SpanContext implements trace.Span.
+func (n ValidNoopSpan) SpanContext() oteltrace.SpanContext {
+	return n.Span.SpanContext().WithTraceID(noopTraceID).WithSpanID(noopSpanID)
+}
+
+var _ oteltrace.Span = ValidNoopSpan{}
+
 func IsDisabledViaEnvironment() bool {
 	if os.Getenv("OTEL_SDK_DISABLED") == "true" {
 		return true
diff --git a/internal/testutil/minio.go b/internal/testutil/minio.go
index 69ee9828c..2b0d7e57e 100644
--- a/internal/testutil/minio.go
+++ b/internal/testutil/minio.go
@@ -6,8 +6,10 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/minio/minio-go/v7"
 	"github.com/minio/minio-go/v7/pkg/credentials"
+	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/telemetry/trace"
 	"github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go"
 	"github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/wait"
+	oteltrace "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace"
 )
 
 // WithTestMinIO starts a test MinIO server
@@ -15,6 +17,7 @@ func WithTestMinIO(t *testing.T, bucket string, handler func(endpoint string)) {
 	t.Helper()
 
 	ctx := GetContext(t, maxWait)
+	ctx = oteltrace.ContextWithSpan(ctx, trace.ValidNoopSpan{})
 
 	container, err := testcontainers.GenericContainer(ctx, testcontainers.GenericContainerRequest{
 		ContainerRequest: testcontainers.ContainerRequest{
diff --git a/internal/testutil/postgres.go b/internal/testutil/postgres.go
index fedc417e3..15bb70826 100644
--- a/internal/testutil/postgres.go
+++ b/internal/testutil/postgres.go
@@ -8,8 +8,10 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/google/uuid"
 	"github.com/jackc/pgx/v5"
+	"github.com/pomerium/pomerium/internal/telemetry/trace"
 	"github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go"
 	"github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/wait"
+	oteltrace "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace"
 )
 
 // WithTestPostgres starts a postgres database.
@@ -17,6 +19,7 @@ func WithTestPostgres(t *testing.T, handler func(dsn string)) {
 	t.Helper()
 
 	ctx := GetContext(t, maxWait)
+	ctx = oteltrace.ContextWithSpan(ctx, trace.ValidNoopSpan{})
 
 	container, err := testcontainers.GenericContainer(ctx, testcontainers.GenericContainerRequest{
 		ContainerRequest: testcontainers.ContainerRequest{