diff --git a/include/wx/webrequest.h b/include/wx/webrequest.h
index 68b785b9e9..2f9ffb51e1 100644
--- a/include/wx/webrequest.h
+++ b/include/wx/webrequest.h
@@ -193,7 +193,6 @@ private:
     wxWebRequestImplPtr m_impl;
 };
 
-extern WXDLLIMPEXP_DATA_NET(const char) wxWebSessionBackendDefault[];
 extern WXDLLIMPEXP_DATA_NET(const char) wxWebSessionBackendWinHTTP[];
 extern WXDLLIMPEXP_DATA_NET(const char) wxWebSessionBackendURLSession[];
 extern WXDLLIMPEXP_DATA_NET(const char) wxWebSessionBackendCURL[];
@@ -213,7 +212,7 @@ public:
     // factory functions to get access to them.
     static wxWebSession& GetDefault();
 
-    static wxWebSession New(const wxString& backend = wxWebSessionBackendDefault);
+    static wxWebSession New(const wxString& backend = wxString());
 
     // Can be used to check if the given backend is available without actually
     // creating a session using it.
diff --git a/src/common/webrequest.cpp b/src/common/webrequest.cpp
index eb3ce57102..d5380b48be 100644
--- a/src/common/webrequest.cpp
+++ b/src/common/webrequest.cpp
@@ -43,14 +43,6 @@ extern WXDLLIMPEXP_DATA_NET(const char) wxWebSessionBackendWinHTTP[] = "wxWebSes
 extern WXDLLIMPEXP_DATA_NET(const char) wxWebSessionBackendURLSession[] = "wxWebSessionBackendURLSession";
 extern WXDLLIMPEXP_DATA_NET(const char) wxWebSessionBackendCURL[] = "wxWebSessionBackendCURL";
 
-#if wxUSE_WEBREQUEST_WINHTTP
-extern WXDLLIMPEXP_DATA_NET(const char) wxWebSessionBackendDefault[] = "wxWebSessionBackendWinHTTP";
-#elif wxUSE_WEBREQUEST_URLSESSION
-extern WXDLLIMPEXP_DATA_NET(const char) wxWebSessionBackendDefault[] = "wxWebSessionBackendURLSession";
-#elif wxUSE_WEBREQUEST_CURL
-extern WXDLLIMPEXP_DATA_NET(const char) wxWebSessionBackendDefault[] = "wxWebSessionBackendCURL";
-#endif
-
 wxDEFINE_EVENT(wxEVT_WEBREQUEST_STATE, wxWebRequestEvent);
 wxDEFINE_EVENT(wxEVT_WEBREQUEST_DATA, wxWebRequestEvent);
 
@@ -824,11 +816,23 @@ wxWebSession& wxWebSession::GetDefault()
 }
 
 // static
-wxWebSession wxWebSession::New(const wxString& backend)
+wxWebSession wxWebSession::New(const wxString& backendOrig)
 {
     if ( gs_factoryMap.empty() )
         InitFactoryMap();
 
+    wxString backend = backendOrig;
+    if ( backend.empty() )
+    {
+#if wxUSE_WEBREQUEST_WINHTTP
+        backend = wxWebSessionBackendWinHTTP;
+#elif wxUSE_WEBREQUEST_URLSESSION
+        backend = wxWebSessionBackendURLSession;
+#elif wxUSE_WEBREQUEST_CURL
+        backend = wxWebSessionBackendCURL;
+#endif
+    }
+
     wxStringWebSessionFactoryMap::iterator factory = gs_factoryMap.find(backend);
 
     wxWebSessionImplPtr impl;