diff --git a/src/utils/directive-tags.test.ts b/src/utils/directive-tags.test.ts
index 39751043981..7010b6ad270 100644
--- a/src/utils/directive-tags.test.ts
+++ b/src/utils/directive-tags.test.ts
@@ -216,9 +216,10 @@ describe("stripInlineDirectiveTagsFromMessageForDisplay", () => {
       content: [{ type: "text", text: "hello [[reply_to_current]] world [[audio_as_voice]]" }],
     };
     const result = stripInlineDirectiveTagsFromMessageForDisplay(input);
-    expect(result).toMatchObject({
-      content: [{ type: "text", text: "hello  world " }],
-    });
+    if (!result) {
+      throw new Error("expected stripped message");
+    }
+    expect(result.content).toEqual([{ type: "text", text: "hello  world " }]);
   });
 
   test("preserves empty-string text when directives are entire content", () => {
@@ -227,9 +228,10 @@ describe("stripInlineDirectiveTagsFromMessageForDisplay", () => {
       content: [{ type: "text", text: "[[reply_to_current]]" }],
     };
     const result = stripInlineDirectiveTagsFromMessageForDisplay(input);
-    expect(result).toMatchObject({
-      content: [{ type: "text", text: "" }],
-    });
+    if (!result) {
+      throw new Error("expected stripped message");
+    }
+    expect(result.content).toEqual([{ type: "text", text: "" }]);
   });
 
   test("returns original message when content is not an array", () => {