diff --git a/src/main/java/org/akhq/configs/DataMasking.java b/src/main/java/org/akhq/configs/DataMasking.java
index d212b69d5..ff601eff1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/akhq/configs/DataMasking.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/akhq/configs/DataMasking.java
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 @Data
 public class DataMasking {
    List<RegexFilter> filters = new ArrayList<>(); // regex filters still use `filters` for backwards compatibility
-   DataMaskingMode mode = DataMaskingMode.REGEX; // set this by default to REGEX for backwards compatibility for current regex filtering users who haven't defined this property.
    List<JsonMaskingFilter> jsonFilters = new ArrayList<>();
    String jsonMaskReplacement = "xxxx";
    boolean cachingEnabled = false;
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/akhq/configs/DataMaskingMode.java b/src/main/java/org/akhq/configs/DataMaskingMode.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 26e6260f2..000000000
--- a/src/main/java/org/akhq/configs/DataMaskingMode.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-package org.akhq.configs;
-
-public enum DataMaskingMode {
-    // Use the existing regex-based filtering
-    REGEX,
-    // Use filtering where by default all fields of all records are masked, with fields to unmask defined in allowlists
-    JSON_MASK_BY_DEFAULT,
-    // Use filtering where by default no fields of any records are masked, with fields to mask explicitly denied
-    JSON_SHOW_BY_DEFAULT,
-    // No masker at all, best performance
-    NONE
-}
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/akhq/utils/DefaultMaskerSettingTest.java b/src/test/java/org/akhq/utils/DefaultMaskerSettingTest.java
index 5532e049a..4e531c847 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/akhq/utils/DefaultMaskerSettingTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/akhq/utils/DefaultMaskerSettingTest.java
@@ -2,28 +2,18 @@
 
 import io.micronaut.test.extensions.junit5.annotation.MicronautTest;
 import jakarta.inject.Inject;
-import org.akhq.configs.DataMasking;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
-import static org.akhq.configs.DataMaskingMode.REGEX;
-import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertInstanceOf;
 
 @MicronautTest
 public class DefaultMaskerSettingTest {
 
-    @Inject
-    DataMasking dataMasking;
-
     @Inject
     Masker masker;
 
     @Test
     void defaultValuesShouldUseRegexForBackwardsCompatibility() {
-        assertEquals(
-            REGEX,
-            dataMasking.getMode()
-        );
         assertInstanceOf(RegexMasker.class, masker);
     }
 }