diff --git a/apps/authentication/backends/oauth2/backends.py b/apps/authentication/backends/oauth2/backends.py
index 9f3b04ac3..0c40d09bd 100644
--- a/apps/authentication/backends/oauth2/backends.py
+++ b/apps/authentication/backends/oauth2/backends.py
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ class OAuth2Backend(JMSModelBackend):
             'Accept': 'application/json'
         }
         if token_method == 'post':
-            access_token_response = requests_func(access_token_url, headers=headers, json=query_dict)
+            access_token_response = requests_func(access_token_url, headers=headers, data=query_dict)
         else:
             access_token_response = requests_func(access_token_url, headers=headers)
         try: