diff --git a/sentry_sdk/scope.py b/sentry_sdk/scope.py
index f24edcf137..2b39e0d7ad 100644
--- a/sentry_sdk/scope.py
+++ b/sentry_sdk/scope.py
@@ -1848,9 +1848,21 @@ def apply_to_telemetry(self, telemetry: "Union[Log, Metric, StreamedSpan]") -> N
                 telemetry["trace_id"] = (
                     trace_id or "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
                 )
-            span_id = trace_context.get("span_id")
-            if telemetry.get("span_id") is None and span_id:
-                telemetry["span_id"] = span_id
+
+            # span_id should only be populated if there's an active span. We can't
+            # use the trace_context here because it synthesizes a span_id if there
+            # isn't one
+            if telemetry.get("span_id") is None:
+                if self._span is not None and not isinstance(
+                    self._span, NoOpStreamedSpan
+                ):
+                    telemetry["span_id"] = self._span.span_id
+                else:
+                    external_propagation_context = get_external_propagation_context()
+                    if external_propagation_context:
+                        _, span_id = external_propagation_context
+                        if span_id is not None:
+                            telemetry["span_id"] = span_id
 
         self._apply_scope_attributes_to_telemetry(telemetry)
         self._apply_user_attributes_to_telemetry(telemetry)
diff --git a/tests/integrations/logging/test_logging.py b/tests/integrations/logging/test_logging.py
index 5e384bd3db..12dbacc9ec 100644
--- a/tests/integrations/logging/test_logging.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/logging/test_logging.py
@@ -486,7 +486,7 @@ def test_logger_with_all_attributes(sentry_init, capture_envelopes):
     logs = envelopes_to_logs(envelopes)
 
     assert "span_id" in logs[0]
-    assert isinstance(logs[0]["span_id"], str)
+    assert logs[0]["span_id"] is None
 
     attributes = logs[0]["attributes"]
 
diff --git a/tests/integrations/loguru/test_loguru.py b/tests/integrations/loguru/test_loguru.py
index 66cc336de5..6fdc0cb1aa 100644
--- a/tests/integrations/loguru/test_loguru.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/loguru/test_loguru.py
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ def test_logger_with_all_attributes(
     logs = envelopes_to_logs(envelopes)
 
     assert "span_id" in logs[0]
-    assert isinstance(logs[0]["span_id"], str)
+    assert logs[0]["span_id"] is None
 
     attributes = logs[0]["attributes"]
 
diff --git a/tests/test_logs.py b/tests/test_logs.py
index 86861cfe90..34741c05d6 100644
--- a/tests/test_logs.py
+++ b/tests/test_logs.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ def envelopes_to_logs(envelopes: List[Envelope]) -> List[Log]:
                         "attributes": otel_attributes_to_dict(log_json["attributes"]),
                         "time_unix_nano": int(float(log_json["timestamp"]) * 1e9),
                         "trace_id": log_json["trace_id"],
-                        "span_id": log_json["span_id"],
+                        "span_id": log_json.get("span_id"),
                     }
                     res.append(log)
     return res
@@ -324,6 +324,24 @@ def test_logs_tied_to_transactions(sentry_init, capture_envelopes):
     assert logs[0]["span_id"] == trx.span_id
 
 
+@minimum_python_37
+def test_logs_no_span_id_without_active_span(sentry_init, capture_envelopes):
+    """
+    Per the metrics spec, span_id is only attached when a span is active
+    when the telemetry is emitted. The propagation context's synthesized
+    span_id must not be used as a fallback.
+    """
+    sentry_init(enable_logs=True)
+    envelopes = capture_envelopes()
+
+    sentry_sdk.logger.warning("This is a log without an active span")
+
+    get_client().flush()
+    logs = envelopes_to_logs(envelopes)
+    assert logs[0]["trace_id"] is not None
+    assert logs[0]["span_id"] is None
+
+
 @minimum_python_37
 def test_logs_tied_to_spans(sentry_init, capture_envelopes):
     """
diff --git a/tests/test_metrics.py b/tests/test_metrics.py
index 3ad3f6042d..f528cac35f 100644
--- a/tests/test_metrics.py
+++ b/tests/test_metrics.py
@@ -184,7 +184,10 @@ def test_metrics_tracing_without_performance(sentry_init, capture_envelopes):
     propagation_context = isolation_scope._propagation_context
     assert propagation_context is not None
     assert metrics[0]["trace_id"] == propagation_context.trace_id
-    assert metrics[0]["span_id"] == propagation_context.span_id
+    # Per the metrics spec, span_id is only attached when a span is
+    # active when the metric is emitted. The propagation context's
+    # synthesized span_id must not be used as a fallback.
+    assert metrics[0]["span_id"] is None
 
 
 def test_metrics_before_send(sentry_init, capture_envelopes):
@@ -294,7 +297,6 @@ def test_transport_format(sentry_init, capture_envelopes):
                 "value": 1,
                 "timestamp": mock.ANY,
                 "trace_id": mock.ANY,
-                "span_id": mock.ANY,
                 "attributes": {
                     "sentry.environment": {
                         "type": "string",