diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 161ec36..3e2c686 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ nostr.egg-info/
 dist/
 nostr/_version.py
 .DS_Store
+.python-version
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/nostr/event.py b/nostr/event.py
index ce77050..8edba87 100644
--- a/nostr/event.py
+++ b/nostr/event.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ def __init__(
             content: str, 
             created_at: int = None, 
             kind: int=EventKind.TEXT_NOTE, 
-            tags: "list[list[str]]"=[], 
+            tags: "list[list[str]]" = None, 
             id: str=None, 
             signature: str=None) -> None:
         if not isinstance(content, str):
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.content = content
         self.created_at = created_at or int(time.time())
         self.kind = kind
-        self.tags = tags
+        self.tags = tags or []
         self.signature = signature
         self.id = id or Event.compute_id(self.public_key, self.created_at, self.kind, self.tags, self.content)