diff --git a/roles/copr/backend/tasks/copr-ping.yml b/roles/copr/backend/tasks/copr-ping.yml
index c64b5bba04..d4764b8770 100644
--- a/roles/copr/backend/tasks/copr-ping.yml
+++ b/roles/copr/backend/tasks/copr-ping.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
     owner: "{{ ping_user }}"
     group: nagios
     mode: '0644'
+    state: touch
   when: not ping_log_check.stat.exists
   tags: copr_ping