diff --git a/query-engine/query-engine-node-api/src/engine.rs b/query-engine/query-engine-node-api/src/engine.rs
index f0149786be65..a1a7bfaaa728 100644
--- a/query-engine/query-engine-node-api/src/engine.rs
+++ b/query-engine/query-engine-node-api/src/engine.rs
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ impl QueryEngine {
         let dispatcher = self.logger.dispatcher();
 
         async_panic_to_js_error(async {
-            let span = tracing::info_span!("prisma:engine:connect", user_facing = true);
+            let span = tracing::info_span!("prisma:engine:connect");
             let _ = set_parent_context_from_json_str(&span, &trace);
 
             let mut inner = self.inner.write().await;
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ impl QueryEngine {
         let dispatcher = self.logger.dispatcher();
 
         async_panic_to_js_error(async {
-            let span = tracing::info_span!("prisma:engine:disconnect", user_facing = true);
+            let span = tracing::info_span!("prisma:engine:disconnect");
             let _ = set_parent_context_from_json_str(&span, &trace);
 
             async {
diff --git a/query-engine/query-engine/src/opt.rs b/query-engine/query-engine/src/opt.rs
index 887f7da96595..3048dc060a19 100644
--- a/query-engine/query-engine/src/opt.rs
+++ b/query-engine/query-engine/src/opt.rs
@@ -107,10 +107,6 @@ pub struct PrismaOpt {
     #[structopt(long, default_value)]
     pub open_telemetry_endpoint: String,
 
-    /// JSON object for tracing headers such as the traceparent
-    #[structopt(long, default_value = "{}")]
-    pub tracing_headers: String,
-
     #[structopt(subcommand)]
     pub subcommand: Option<Subcommand>,
 }
diff --git a/query-engine/query-engine/src/server/mod.rs b/query-engine/query-engine/src/server/mod.rs
index dbf1060cabaf..c1c479224d07 100644
--- a/query-engine/query-engine/src/server/mod.rs
+++ b/query-engine/query-engine/src/server/mod.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ use datamodel::common::preview_features::PreviewFeature;
 use hyper::service::{make_service_fn, service_fn};
 use hyper::{header::CONTENT_TYPE, Body, HeaderMap, Method, Request, Response, Server, StatusCode};
 use opentelemetry::{global, propagation::Extractor, Context};
-use query_core::{schema::QuerySchemaRenderer, set_parent_context_from_json_str, TxId};
+use query_core::{schema::QuerySchemaRenderer, TxId};
 use query_core::{MetricFormat, MetricRegistry};
 use request_handlers::{dmmf, GraphQLSchemaRenderer, GraphQlHandler, TxInput};
 use serde_json::json;
@@ -64,8 +64,7 @@ pub async fn setup(opts: &PrismaOpt, metrics: MetricRegistry) -> PrismaResult<St
     let config = opts.configuration(false)?.subject;
     config.validate_that_one_datasource_is_provided()?;
 
-    let span = tracing::info_span!("prisma:engine:connect", user_facing = true);
-    let _ = set_parent_context_from_json_str(&span, &(opts.tracing_headers));
+    let span = tracing::info_span!("prisma:engine:connect");
 
     let enable_itx = config
         .preview_features()