diff --git a/src/applications/repository/storage/PhabricatorRepositoryCommitData.php b/src/applications/repository/storage/PhabricatorRepositoryCommitData.php
--- a/src/applications/repository/storage/PhabricatorRepositoryCommitData.php
+++ b/src/applications/repository/storage/PhabricatorRepositoryCommitData.php
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@
     $ref = $this->getCommitRef();
 
     $author = $ref->getAuthor();
-    if (strlen($author)) {
+    if (phutil_nonempty_string($author)) {
       return $author;
     }