diff --git a/cql3/expr/expression.cc b/cql3/expr/expression.cc
index 3ebc8d5f04..e3390f6913 100644
--- a/cql3/expr/expression.cc
+++ b/cql3/expr/expression.cc
@@ -1017,7 +1017,7 @@ std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const column_value& cv) {
 std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const expression& expr) {
     expression::printer pr {
         .expr_to_print = expr,
-        .debug_mode = true
+        .debug_mode = false
     };
 
     return os << pr;
diff --git a/cql3/expr/expression.hh b/cql3/expr/expression.hh
index dcb4c067db..c021728d50 100644
--- a/cql3/expr/expression.hh
+++ b/cql3/expr/expression.hh
@@ -828,12 +828,12 @@ bool has_only_eq_binops(const expression&);
 } // namespace cql3
 
 /// Custom formatter for an expression. Use {:user} for user-oriented
-/// output, {:debug} for debug-oriented output. Debug is the default.
+/// output, {:debug} for debug-oriented output. User is the default.
 ///
 /// Required for fmt::join() to work on expression.
 template <>
 class fmt::formatter<cql3::expr::expression> {
-    bool _debug = true;
+    bool _debug = false;
 private:
     constexpr static bool try_match_and_advance(format_parse_context& ctx, std::string_view s) {
         auto [ctx_end, s_end] = std::ranges::mismatch(ctx, s);