diff --git a/federationsender/consumers/keychange.go b/federationsender/consumers/keychange.go
index 2c366e50..d5dc595c 100644
--- a/federationsender/consumers/keychange.go
+++ b/federationsender/consumers/keychange.go
@@ -84,6 +84,11 @@ func (t *KeyChangeConsumer) onMessage(msg *sarama.ConsumerMessage) error {
 		logrus.WithError(err).Errorf("failed to read device message from key change topic")
 		return nil
 	}
+	if m.DeviceKeys == nil && m.OutputCrossSigningKeyUpdate == nil {
+		// This probably shouldn't happen but stops us from panicking if we come
+		// across an update that doesn't satisfy either types.
+		return nil
+	}
 	switch m.Type {
 	case api.TypeCrossSigningUpdate:
 		return t.onCrossSigningMessage(m)
@@ -95,12 +100,6 @@ func (t *KeyChangeConsumer) onMessage(msg *sarama.ConsumerMessage) error {
 }
 
 func (t *KeyChangeConsumer) onDeviceKeyMessage(m api.DeviceMessage) error {
-	if m.DeviceKeys == nil && m.OutputCrossSigningKeyUpdate == nil {
-		// This probably shouldn't happen but stops us from panicking if we come
-		// across an update that doesn't satisfy either types.
-		return nil
-	}
-
 	logger := logrus.WithField("user_id", m.UserID)
 
 	// only send key change events which originated from us
diff --git a/keyserver/consumers/cross_signing.go b/keyserver/consumers/cross_signing.go
index f9973ec9..2ba62797 100644
--- a/keyserver/consumers/cross_signing.go
+++ b/keyserver/consumers/cross_signing.go
@@ -77,6 +77,11 @@ func (t *OutputCrossSigningKeyUpdateConsumer) onMessage(msg *sarama.ConsumerMess
 		logrus.WithError(err).Errorf("failed to read device message from key change topic")
 		return nil
 	}
+	if m.OutputCrossSigningKeyUpdate == nil {
+		// This probably shouldn't happen but stops us from panicking if we come
+		// across an update that doesn't satisfy either types.
+		return nil
+	}
 	switch m.Type {
 	case api.TypeCrossSigningUpdate:
 		return t.onCrossSigningMessage(m)
diff --git a/syncapi/consumers/keychange.go b/syncapi/consumers/keychange.go
index 1938ff9b..dfedc640 100644
--- a/syncapi/consumers/keychange.go
+++ b/syncapi/consumers/keychange.go
@@ -109,6 +109,11 @@ func (s *OutputKeyChangeEventConsumer) onMessage(msg *sarama.ConsumerMessage) er
 		logrus.WithError(err).Errorf("failed to read device message from key change topic")
 		return nil
 	}
+	if m.DeviceKeys == nil && m.OutputCrossSigningKeyUpdate == nil {
+		// This probably shouldn't happen but stops us from panicking if we come
+		// across an update that doesn't satisfy either types.
+		return nil
+	}
 	switch m.Type {
 	case api.TypeCrossSigningUpdate:
 		return s.onCrossSigningMessage(m, msg.Offset, msg.Partition)