diff --git a/src/BaseEventIndexManager.js b/src/BaseEventIndexManager.js
index 48a96c4d88..073bdbec81 100644
--- a/src/BaseEventIndexManager.js
+++ b/src/BaseEventIndexManager.js
@@ -91,13 +91,10 @@ export default class BaseEventIndexManager {
     /**
      * Initialize the event index for the given user.
      *
-     * @param {string} userId The unique identifier of the logged in user that
-     * owns the index.
-     *
      * @return {Promise} A promise that will resolve when the event index is
      * initialized.
      */
-    async initEventIndex(userId: string): Promise<> {
+    async initEventIndex(): Promise<> {
         throw new Error("Unimplemented");
     }
 
diff --git a/src/EventIndexPeg.js b/src/EventIndexPeg.js
index 1b380e273f..ff1b2099f2 100644
--- a/src/EventIndexPeg.js
+++ b/src/EventIndexPeg.js
@@ -56,10 +56,9 @@ class EventIndexPeg {
         }
 
         const index = new EventIndex();
-        const userId = MatrixClientPeg.get().getUserId();
 
         try {
-            await index.init(userId);
+            await index.init();
         } catch (e) {
             console.log("EventIndex: Error initializing the event index", e);
         }
diff --git a/src/EventIndexing.js b/src/EventIndexing.js
index 67bd894c67..1fc9197082 100644
--- a/src/EventIndexing.js
+++ b/src/EventIndexing.js
@@ -33,10 +33,10 @@ export default class EventIndexer {
         this.liveEventsForIndex = new Set();
     }
 
-    async init(userId) {
+    async init() {
         const indexManager = PlatformPeg.get().getEventIndexingManager();
         if (indexManager === null) return false;
-        indexManager.initEventIndex(userId);
+        indexManager.initEventIndex();
         return true;
     }