diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/appsembler/settings/helpers.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/appsembler/settings/helpers.py
index ff1bff3f9231..91719d19e7b2 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/appsembler/settings/helpers.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/appsembler/settings/helpers.py
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@
 
 from os import path
 
-from tahoe_sites.api import get_tahoe_sites_auth_backends
-
 
 def get_tahoe_theme_static_dirs(settings):
     """
@@ -76,10 +74,9 @@ def get_tahoe_multitenant_auth_backends(settings):
         upstream_backend_index = authentication_backends.index(upstream_user_model_backend)
 
         # Use multi-tenant Tahoe backends instead of the upstream EdxRateLimitedAllowAllUsersModelBackend backend.
-        authentication_backends = (
-            settings.AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS[:upstream_backend_index] +
-            get_tahoe_sites_auth_backends() +
-            settings.AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS[upstream_backend_index + 1:]
-        )
+        authentication_backends = settings.AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS[:upstream_backend_index] + [
+            'tahoe_sites.backends.DefaultSiteBackend',
+            'tahoe_sites.backends.OrganizationMemberBackend',
+        ] + settings.AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS[upstream_backend_index + 1:]
 
     return authentication_backends