diff --git a/src/broker/Manager.cc b/src/broker/Manager.cc
index 2e36509a2f..48e3a50396 100644
--- a/src/broker/Manager.cc
+++ b/src/broker/Manager.cc
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include <broker/event.hh>
 #include <broker/event_observer.hh>
 #include <broker/logger.hh>
+#include <broker/time.hh>
 #include <broker/variant.hh>
 #include <broker/zeek.hh>
 #include <unistd.h>
@@ -42,6 +43,8 @@
 #include "zeek/telemetry/Manager.h"
 #include "zeek/util.h"
 
+#include "const.bif.netvar_h"
+
 using namespace std;
 
 namespace {
@@ -849,8 +852,15 @@ bool Manager::PublishEvent(string topic, std::string name, broker::vector args,
     if ( peer_count == 0 && hub_count == 0 )
         return true;
 
-    broker::zeek::Event ev(name, args, broker::to_timestamp(ts));
-    DBG_LOG(DBG_BROKER, "Publishing event: %s", RenderEvent(topic, name, ev.args()).c_str());
+    broker::vector meta;
+    if ( BifConst::EventMetadata::add_network_timestamp ) {
+        broker::vector entry{static_cast<broker::count>(zeek::detail::MetadataType::NetworkTimestamp),
+                             broker::to_timestamp(ts)};
+        meta.emplace_back(std::move(entry));
+    }
+
+    broker::zeek::Event ev(name, args, meta);
+    DBG_LOG(DBG_BROKER, "Publishing event: %s", RenderEvent(topic, std::string(ev.name()), ev.args()).c_str());
     bstate->endpoint.publish(std::move(topic), ev.move_data());
     num_events_outgoing_metric->Inc();
     return true;
@@ -1571,15 +1581,10 @@ void Manager::ProcessMessage(std::string_view topic, broker::zeek::Event& ev) {
 
     auto&& name = ev.name();
     auto&& args = ev.args();
-    double ts;
+    auto meta = cluster::detail::metadata_vector_from_broker_event(ev);
 
-    if ( auto ev_ts = ev.ts() )
-        broker::convert(*ev_ts, ts);
-    else
-        // Default to current network time, if the received event did not contain a timestamp.
-        ts = run_state::network_time;
-
-    DBG_LOG(DBG_BROKER, "Process event: %s (%.6f) %s", std::string{name}.c_str(), ts, RenderMessage(args).c_str());
+    DBG_LOG(DBG_BROKER, "Process event: %s (with %zu metadata entries) %s", std::string{name}.c_str(),
+            meta ? meta->size() : 0, RenderMessage(args).c_str());
     num_events_incoming_metric->Inc();
     auto handler = event_registry->Lookup(name);
 
@@ -1655,13 +1660,8 @@ void Manager::ProcessMessage(std::string_view topic, broker::zeek::Event& ev) {
         }
     }
 
-    if ( vl.size() == args.size() ) {
-        zeek::detail::EventMetadataVectorPtr meta;
-        if ( ts >= 0.0 )
-            meta = zeek::detail::MakeEventMetadataVector(ts);
-
+    if ( vl.size() == args.size() )
         event_mgr.Enqueue(std::move(meta), handler, std::move(vl), util::detail::SOURCE_BROKER);
-    }
 }
 
 bool Manager::ProcessMessage(std::string_view, broker::zeek::LogCreate& lc) {