diff --git a/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/worker/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/worker/StreamingDataflowWorker.java b/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/worker/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/worker/StreamingDataflowWorker.java
index 9e82343474c6..72871fec4629 100644
--- a/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/worker/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/worker/StreamingDataflowWorker.java
+++ b/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/worker/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/worker/StreamingDataflowWorker.java
@@ -1059,6 +1059,10 @@ public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
             }
           });
       LOG.info("Enabled Open Telemetry with properties: {}", openTelemetryProperties);
+    } else {
+      // turn off auth extension so it doesn't interfere if user is configuring otel e.g. via
+      // JvmInitializer.
+      System.setProperty("google.otel.auth.target.signals", "none");
     }
 
     LOG.debug("Creating StreamingDataflowWorker from options: {}", options);
diff --git a/sdks/java/harness/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/fn/harness/FnHarness.java b/sdks/java/harness/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/fn/harness/FnHarness.java
index 703e726739a0..0e8f459a1f16 100644
--- a/sdks/java/harness/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/fn/harness/FnHarness.java
+++ b/sdks/java/harness/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/fn/harness/FnHarness.java
@@ -306,6 +306,10 @@ public static void main(
               }
             });
         LOG.info("Enabled Open Telemetry with properties: {}", openTelemetryProperties);
+      } else {
+        // turn off auth extension so it doesn't interfere if user is configuring otel e.g. via
+        // JvmInitializer.
+        System.setProperty("google.otel.auth.target.signals", "none");
       }
       EnumMap<
               BeamFnApi.InstructionRequest.RequestCase,