diff --git a/spec/audit.py b/spec/audit.py
index fd8e889b..c7f99966 100644
--- a/spec/audit.py
+++ b/spec/audit.py
@@ -39,9 +39,17 @@
     "has_wiki", "has_projects", "allow_merge_commit", "allow_squash_merge",
     "allow_rebase_merge", "allow_auto_merge", "allow_update_branch", "delete_branch_on_merge",
 ]
-RULESET_SUBSET = ["name", "target", "enforcement", "bypass_actors", "conditions", "rules"]
-# Phrases in a registry driftNote that assert work still outstanding. Deliberately specific: a note
-# recording a permanent deviation ("no get-version-task; relies on validate-task") must not match.
+# The bypass_actors field is deliberately absent from this list.
+# Who may bypass a ruleset is a per-repository human decision taken in the UI.
+# The configure.sh script in repo-config treats it that way, since apply writes the live list back unchanged and check reports it without asserting.
+# Comparing it here would contradict that, and did.
+# Once the payloads stopped declaring a bypass list, every repo whose live ruleset still had one reported a ruleset DEFECT.
+# That was a field the fleet config had deliberately stopped managing.
+# Two tools comparing one field under opposite policies is the defect, rather than the field's value.
+RULESET_SUBSET = ["name", "target", "enforcement", "conditions", "rules"]
+# Phrases in a registry driftNote that assert work is still outstanding.
+# Deliberately specific, so a note recording a permanent deviation must not match.
+# An example of one that must not match is a note reading that there is no get-version-task and validate-task is relied on instead.
 PENDING_MARKERS = ["pending", "not yet", "owed", "todo", "still", "behind", "missing", "absent"]
 
 
@@ -102,8 +110,6 @@ def normalize_ruleset(payload):
     sub = {k: payload.get(k) for k in RULESET_SUBSET}
     if isinstance(sub.get("rules"), list):
         sub["rules"] = sorted(sub["rules"], key=lambda r: json.dumps(r, sort_keys=True))
-    if isinstance(sub.get("bypass_actors"), list):
-        sub["bypass_actors"] = sorted(sub["bypass_actors"], key=lambda a: (str(a.get("actor_type")), str(a.get("actor_id"))))
     return json.dumps(sub, sort_keys=True)