diff --git a/backend/src/services/graph_access/graph_access.py b/backend/src/services/graph_access/graph_access.py
index 85e0c72aa..fe3b92c6e 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/graph_access/graph_access.py
+++ b/backend/src/services/graph_access/graph_access.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ async def get_user_profile_photo(self) -> str | None:
         response = await self._request("https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/photo/$value")
 
         if response.status_code == 200:
-            return base64.b64encode(response.content)
+            return base64.b64encode(response.content).decode("utf-8")
         else:
             return None