diff --git a/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status.go b/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status.go
index 014f3e7b6..417a0773c 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status.go
@@ -187,9 +187,12 @@ func statusRun(opts *StatusOptions) error {
 	stdout := opts.IO.Out
 	cs := opts.IO.ColorScheme()
 
-	if opts.ShowToken && opts.Exporter != nil {
-		fmt.Fprintf(stderr, "`--json` and `--show-token` cannot be used together. To include the token in the JSON output, use `--json token`.")
-		return nil
+	if opts.Exporter != nil {
+		if opts.ShowToken {
+			fmt.Fprintf(stderr, "`--json` and `--show-token` cannot be used together. To include the token in the JSON output, use `--json token`.")
+			return nil
+		}
+		opts.ShowToken = true
 	}
 
 	statuses := make(map[string]Entries)
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status_test.go b/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status_test.go
index 567748d82..43d552394 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status_test.go
@@ -651,6 +651,17 @@ func Test_statusRun(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			wantOut: `{"github.com":[{"active":true,"host":"github.com","login":"monalisa","scopes":"","state":"timeout"}]}` + "\n",
 		},
+		{
+			name: "token is not masked with json flag",
+			opts: StatusOptions{
+				Hostname: "github.com",
+				Exporter: addFieldsToExporter(defaultJsonExporter(), []string{"token"}),
+			},
+			cfgStubs: func(t *testing.T, c gh.Config) {
+				login(t, c, "github.com", "monalisa", "abc123", "https")
+			},
+			wantOut: `{"github.com":[{"active":true,"host":"github.com","login":"monalisa","state":"success","token":"abc123"}]}` + "\n",
+		},
 		{
 			name: "Both show token and json flags",
 			opts: StatusOptions{