diff --git a/src/aleph/web/controllers/utils.py b/src/aleph/web/controllers/utils.py
index c0411115b..9f9e06d00 100644
--- a/src/aleph/web/controllers/utils.py
+++ b/src/aleph/web/controllers/utils.py
@@ -267,7 +267,6 @@ async def pub_on_p2p_topics(
     payload: Union[str, bytes],
     logger: logging.Logger,
 ) -> List[Protocol]:
-
     failed_publications = []
 
     if ipfs_service:
@@ -310,6 +309,12 @@ def broadcast_status_to_http_status(broadcast_status: BroadcastStatus) -> int:
     return message_status_to_http_status(message_status)
 
 
+def _message_to_dict(pending_message: BasePendingMessage) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    message_dict = pending_message.dict(exclude_none=True)
+    message_dict["time"] = message_dict["time"].timestamp()
+    return message_dict
+
+
 @shielded
 async def broadcast_and_process_message(
     pending_message: BasePendingMessage,
@@ -345,7 +350,7 @@ async def broadcast_and_process_message(
     p2p_client = get_p2p_client_from_request(request)
 
     message_topic = config.aleph.queue_topic.value
-    message_dict = message_dict or pending_message.dict(exclude_none=True)
+    message_dict = message_dict or _message_to_dict(pending_message=pending_message)
 
     failed_publications = await pub_on_p2p_topics(
         p2p_client=p2p_client,