diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
index 53e11441a1..221f08c4fa 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
@@ -196,13 +196,6 @@ except NameError:
     # Python 3
     unicode = text_type
 
-try:
-    # Python 2.6+
-    bytes
-except NameError:
-    # Python 2.4
-    bytes = binary_type
-
 try:
     # Python 2
     basestring