diff --git a/geonode/base/api/serializers.py b/geonode/base/api/serializers.py
index 51d9fa6f4bd..c1a5e86798a 100644
--- a/geonode/base/api/serializers.py
+++ b/geonode/base/api/serializers.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 #########################################################################
 from urllib.parse import urljoin
 
+from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
 from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 
@@ -338,7 +339,7 @@ def to_representation(self, instance):
             data['perms'] = instance.get_user_perms(request.user).union(
                 instance.get_self_resource().get_user_perms(request.user)
             )
-            if not request.user.is_anonymous:
+            if not request.user.is_anonymous and getattr(settings, "FAVORITE_ENABLED", False):
                 favorite = Favorite.objects.filter(user=request.user, object_id=instance.pk).count()
                 data['favorite'] = favorite > 0
         return data