diff --git a/src/aleph/chains/common.py b/src/aleph/chains/common.py
index 1f5885c0e..72cc7e4d2 100644
--- a/src/aleph/chains/common.py
+++ b/src/aleph/chains/common.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 from enum import IntEnum
 from typing import Dict, Optional, Tuple, List
 
-from aleph_message.models import MessageType
+from aleph_message.models import MessageType, ItemType
 from bson import ObjectId
 from pymongo import UpdateOne
 
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 from aleph.storage import get_json, pin_hash, add_json, get_message_content
 from .tx_context import TxContext
 from ..schemas.pending_messages import BasePendingMessage
+from ..utils import item_type_from_hash
 
 LOGGER = logging.getLogger("chains.common")
 
@@ -104,6 +105,23 @@ async def mark_message_for_retry(
         LOGGER.debug(f"Update result {result}")
 
 
+def update_message_item_type(message_dict: Dict) -> Dict:
+    """
+    Ensures that the item_type field of a message is present.
+    Sets it to the default value if the field is not specified.
+    """
+    if "item_type" in message_dict:
+        return message_dict
+
+    if "item_content" in message_dict:
+        item_type = ItemType.inline
+    else:
+        item_type = item_type_from_hash(message_dict["item_hash"])
+
+    message_dict["item_type"] = item_type
+    return message_dict
+
+
 async def incoming(
     message: Dict,
     chain_name: Optional[str] = None,
@@ -120,6 +138,10 @@ async def incoming(
     if existing in database, created if not.
     """
 
+    # TODO: this is a temporary fix to set the item_type of the message to the correct
+    #       value. This should be replaced by a full use of Pydantic models.
+    message = update_message_item_type(message)
+
     item_hash = message["item_hash"]
     sender = message["sender"]
     ids_key = (item_hash, sender, chain_name)
diff --git a/src/aleph/network.py b/src/aleph/network.py
index 148cc6612..7074d5b6f 100644
--- a/src/aleph/network.py
+++ b/src/aleph/network.py
@@ -69,10 +69,6 @@ async def check_message(
 
     message = parse_message(message_dict)
 
-    # TODO: this is a temporary fix to set the item_type of the message to the correct
-    #       value. This should be replaced by a full use of Pydantic models.
-    message_dict["item_type"] = message.item_type.value
-
     if trusted:
         # only in the case of a message programmatically built here
         # from legacy native chain signing for example (signing offloaded)