diff --git a/src/reducers/src/combined-updaters.ts b/src/reducers/src/combined-updaters.ts
index e4443b6e74..cba9e01ed8 100644
--- a/src/reducers/src/combined-updaters.ts
+++ b/src/reducers/src/combined-updaters.ts
@@ -120,7 +120,8 @@ export const isValidConfig = config =>
 export const defaultAddDataToMapOptions = {
   centerMap: true,
   keepExistingConfig: false,
-  autoCreateLayers: true
+  autoCreateLayers: true,
+  autoCreateTooltips: true
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/reducers/src/vis-state-updaters.ts b/src/reducers/src/vis-state-updaters.ts
index a7461b75d5..1f1141444f 100644
--- a/src/reducers/src/vis-state-updaters.ts
+++ b/src/reducers/src/vis-state-updaters.ts
@@ -1878,7 +1878,12 @@ function postMergeUpdater(mergedState: VisState, postMergerPayload: PostMergerPa
   // if no tooltips merged add default tooltips
   newDataIds.forEach(dataId => {
     const tooltipFields = mergedState.interactionConfig.tooltip.config.fieldsToShow[dataId];
-    if (!Array.isArray(tooltipFields) || !tooltipFields.length) {
+    // loading dataset: autoCreateTooltips is false and we don't want to run addDefaultTooltips when tooltipFields is empty
+    if (
+      options?.autoCreateTooltips !== false &&
+      (!Array.isArray(tooltipFields) || !tooltipFields.length)
+    ) {
+      // adding dataset: autoCreateTooltips is true
       mergedState = addDefaultTooltips(mergedState, newDataEntries[dataId]);
     }
   });
diff --git a/src/types/actions.d.ts b/src/types/actions.d.ts
index 373253b720..8c96a77962 100644
--- a/src/types/actions.d.ts
+++ b/src/types/actions.d.ts
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ export type AddDataToMapOptions = {
   readOnly?: boolean;
   keepExistingConfig?: boolean;
   autoCreateLayers?: boolean;
+  autoCreateTooltips?: boolean;
 };
 
 export type AddDataToMapPayload = {