diff --git a/src/wp-includes/user.php b/src/wp-includes/user.php
index 877694cf2a..070970a53b 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/user.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/user.php
@@ -2023,7 +2023,7 @@ function wp_insert_user( $userdata ) {
 
 	$meta['rich_editing'] = empty( $userdata['rich_editing'] ) ? 'true' : $userdata['rich_editing'];
 
-	$meta['comment_shortcuts'] = empty( $userdata['comment_shortcuts'] ) ? 'false' : $userdata['comment_shortcuts'];
+	$meta['comment_shortcuts'] = empty( $userdata['comment_shortcuts'] ) || 'false' === $userdata['comment_shortcuts'] ? 'false' : 'true';
 
 	$admin_color = empty( $userdata['admin_color'] ) ? 'fresh' : $userdata['admin_color'];
 	$meta['admin_color'] = preg_replace( '|[^a-z0-9 _.\-@]|i', '', $admin_color );
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/user.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/user.php
index 43edd3a1cf..da5620f028 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/user.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/user.php
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ class Tests_User extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 		// Test update of fields in _get_additional_user_keys()
 		$user_data = array( 'ID' => $user_id, 'use_ssl' => 1, 'show_admin_bar_front' => 1,
 						   'rich_editing' => 1, 'first_name' => 'first', 'last_name' => 'last',
-						   'nickname' => 'nick', 'comment_shortcuts' => 1, 'admin_color' => 'classic',
+						   'nickname' => 'nick', 'comment_shortcuts' => 'true', 'admin_color' => 'classic',
 						   'description' => 'describe' );
 		wp_update_user( $user_data );