diff --git a/synapse/federation/transport/server/_base.py b/synapse/federation/transport/server/_base.py
index 80abece72c..7beafe33c1 100644
--- a/synapse/federation/transport/server/_base.py
+++ b/synapse/federation/transport/server/_base.py
@@ -357,6 +357,7 @@ class BaseFederationServlet:
 
             remote_parent_span_cm = use_span(remote_parent_span, end_on_exit=True)
 
+            # TODO: Make sure this works (traces as expected)
             with remote_parent_span_cm, local_parent_span_cm:
                 if origin and self.RATELIMIT:
                     with ratelimiter.ratelimit(origin) as d:
diff --git a/synapse/logging/tracing.py b/synapse/logging/tracing.py
index 083453554f..cdc71b0544 100644
--- a/synapse/logging/tracing.py
+++ b/synapse/logging/tracing.py
@@ -529,6 +529,11 @@ def start_active_span(
     if opentelemetry is None:
         return contextlib.nullcontext()  # type: ignore[unreachable]
 
+    # TODO: Why is this necessary to satisfy this error? It has a default?
+    #  ` error: Argument "kind" to "start_span" of "Tracer" has incompatible type "Optional[SpanKind]"; expected "SpanKind"  [arg-type]`
+    if kind is None:
+        kind = SpanKind.INTERNAL
+
     span = start_span(
         name=name,
         context=context,