diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/ansible_local_nodepr.yml b/changelogs/fragments/ansible_local_nodepr.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0462c85deed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/ansible_local_nodepr.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - ansible_local will no longer trigger variable injection default value deprecation.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/vars/manager.py b/lib/ansible/vars/manager.py
index 23fcb5662a2..1067ae45749 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/vars/manager.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/vars/manager.py
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ class VariableManager:
 
                 # push facts to main namespace
                 if C.INJECT_FACTS_AS_VARS:
-                    deprecated_facts_vars = {k: _deprecate_top_level_fact(v) for k, v in clean_facts(facts).items()}
+                    deprecated_facts_vars = {k: (_deprecate_top_level_fact(v) if k != 'ansible_local' else v) for k, v in clean_facts(facts).items()}
                     all_vars = _combine_and_track(all_vars, deprecated_facts_vars, "facts")
                 else:
                     # always 'promote' ansible_local
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/deprecations/injectfacts.yml b/test/integration/targets/deprecations/injectfacts.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d5110dfe106
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/deprecations/injectfacts.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+- hosts: localhost
+  gather_facts: true
+  tasks:
+  - debug:
+      msg: '{{ansible_distribution}}'
+  - debug:
+      msg: '{{ansible_local}}'
+    tags: alocal
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/deprecations/runme.sh b/test/integration/targets/deprecations/runme.sh
index c9dc17fdf95..4f8a74f1561 100755
--- a/test/integration/targets/deprecations/runme.sh
+++ b/test/integration/targets/deprecations/runme.sh
@@ -56,3 +56,9 @@ export ANSIBLE_CACHE_PLUGIN=notjsonfile
 
 # check for plugin deprecation
 [ "$(ansible-doc -t cache notjsonfile --playbook-dir ./ | grep -c 'DEPRECATED:')" -eq "1" ]
+
+# Injection default is deprecated
+[ "$(ANSIBLE_INJECT_FACT_VARS=1 ansible-playbook injectfacts.yml 2>&1 | grep -c 'INJECT_FACTS_AS_VARS')" -eq "0" ]
+
+# Injection default is deprecated but not ansible_local
+[ "$(ansible-playbook injectfacts.yml --tags alocal 2>&1 | grep -c 'INJECT_FACTS_AS_VARS')" -eq "0" ]