diff --git a/lib/kubetruth/etl.rb b/lib/kubetruth/etl.rb
index 0a54b0e..914e605 100644
--- a/lib/kubetruth/etl.rb
+++ b/lib/kubetruth/etl.rb
@@ -168,12 +168,13 @@ def kube_apply(parsed_yml)
         if ! kubeapi.under_management?(resource)
           logger.warn "Skipping #{ident} as it doesn't have a label indicating it is under kubetruth management"
         else
-          if resource.to_h.deep_stringify_keys == parsed_yml
-            logger.info "Skipping update for identical kubernetes resource #{ident}"
-          else
-            logger.info "Updating kubernetes resource #{ident}"
-            kubeapi.apply_resource(parsed_yml) unless @dry_run
-          end
+          # apply is server side, and doesn't update unless there are diffs (the
+          # metadata.resourceVersion/creationTimestamp/uid stay constant)
+          # Trying to compare the fetched resource to the generated one doesn't
+          # work as there a bunch of fields we don't control, so we just rely on
+          # the server-side apply to do the right thing.
+          logger.info "Updating kubernetes resource #{ident}"
+          kubeapi.apply_resource(parsed_yml) unless @dry_run
         end
       rescue Kubeclient::ResourceNotFoundError
         logger.info "Creating kubernetes resource #{ident}"
diff --git a/spec/kubetruth/etl_spec.rb b/spec/kubetruth/etl_spec.rb
index 9c548ee..666aa1d 100644
--- a/spec/kubetruth/etl_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/kubetruth/etl_spec.rb
@@ -209,26 +209,6 @@ class ForceExit < Exception; end
         expect(Logging.contents).to match(/Skipping.*kubetruth management/)
       end
 
-      it "doesn't update resource if data same" do
-        resource_yml = <<~EOF
-          apiVersion: v1
-          kind: ConfigMap
-          metadata:
-            name: "group1"
-            namespace: "ns1" 
-          data:
-            "param1": "value1"
-        EOF
-        parsed_yml = YAML.load(resource_yml)
-        resource = Kubeclient::Resource.new(parsed_yml)
-        expect(@kubeapi).to receive(:get_resource).with("configmaps", "group1", "ns1").and_return(resource)
-        expect(@kubeapi).to receive(:set_managed) # test double, so doesn't actually set the label
-        expect(@kubeapi).to receive(:under_management?).and_return(true)
-        expect(@kubeapi).to_not receive(:apply_resource)
-        etl.kube_apply(parsed_yml)
-        expect(Logging.contents).to match(/Skipping update for identical kubernetes resource/)
-      end
-
       it "uses namespace for kube when supplied" do
         resource_yml = <<~EOF
           apiVersion: v1