diff --git a/.phpcs.xml.dist b/.phpcs.xml.dist
index 2285dc731..2704113d3 100644
--- a/.phpcs.xml.dist
+++ b/.phpcs.xml.dist
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
 		<exclude name="PHPCompatibility.Classes.NewAnonymousClasses.Found"/>
 		<exclude name="PHPCompatibility.InitialValue.NewConstantScalarExpressions.constFound"/>
 		<exclude name="Generic.CodeAnalysis.EmptyStatement.DetectedCatch"/>
+		<exclude name="WordPress.PHP.IniSet.Risky"/>
 	</rule>
 	<rule ref="WordPress.NamingConventions.PrefixAllGlobals">
 		<properties>
diff --git a/app/bootstrap.php b/app/bootstrap.php
index d6461db07..3e63e554b 100644
--- a/app/bootstrap.php
+++ b/app/bootstrap.php
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 <?php
 
+// if we're loading Matomo directly, rather than bootstrapping from within WordPress,
+// try to set some INI config values Matomo needs
+if ( ! defined( 'ABSPATH' ) ) {
+	@ini_set( 'zlib.output_compression', false );
+}
+
 // see plugins/WordPress/WordPress.php for more info
 $GLOBALS['MATOMO_WP_ORIGINAL_ERROR_REPORTING'] = error_reporting();
 
diff --git a/classes/WpMatomo/Admin/SystemReport.php b/classes/WpMatomo/Admin/SystemReport.php
index 61a0938b2..3c8f2c6e4 100644
--- a/classes/WpMatomo/Admin/SystemReport.php
+++ b/classes/WpMatomo/Admin/SystemReport.php
@@ -1452,6 +1452,9 @@ private function get_server_info() {
 			'comment' => ! empty( $disabled_functions ) ? $disabled_functions : '',
 		];
 
+		// try to set it before checking, since we try to set it in /app/bootstrap.php
+		@ini_set( 'zlib.output_compression', false );
+
 		$zlib_compression = ini_get( 'zlib.output_compression' );
 		$row              = [
 			'name'  => 'zlib.output_compression is off',