diff --git a/lib/setopt.c b/lib/setopt.c
index 98def48d04..cc243dde1f 100644
--- a/lib/setopt.c
+++ b/lib/setopt.c
@@ -473,8 +473,7 @@ static CURLcode setopt_long(struct Curl_easy *data, CURLoption option,
     /*
      * Shut off the internal supported progress meter
      */
-    data->set.hide_progress = enabled;
-    if(data->set.hide_progress)
+    if(enabled)
       data->progress.flags |= PGRS_HIDE;
     else
       data->progress.flags &= ~PGRS_HIDE;
diff --git a/lib/url.c b/lib/url.c
index 6c69455312..fd4eb53ffd 100644
--- a/lib/url.c
+++ b/lib/url.c
@@ -395,9 +395,6 @@ CURLcode Curl_init_userdefined(struct Curl_easy *data)
   set->socks5auth = CURLAUTH_BASIC | CURLAUTH_GSSAPI;
 #endif
 
-  /* make libcurl quiet by default: */
-  set->hide_progress = TRUE;  /* CURLOPT_NOPROGRESS changes these */
-
   Curl_mime_initpart(&set->mimepost);
 
   Curl_ssl_easy_config_init(data);
diff --git a/lib/urldata.h b/lib/urldata.h
index 616e3a633d..076345ca20 100644
--- a/lib/urldata.h
+++ b/lib/urldata.h
@@ -1717,7 +1717,6 @@ struct UserDefined {
                             us */
   BIT(wildcard_enabled); /* enable wildcard matching */
 #endif
-  BIT(hide_progress);    /* do not use the progress meter */
   BIT(http_fail_on_error);  /* fail on HTTP error codes >= 400 */
   BIT(http_keep_sending_on_error); /* for HTTP status codes >= 300 */
   BIT(http_transfer_encoding); /* request compressed HTTP transfer-encoding */