diff --git a/swh/loader/git/tests/test_from_disk.py b/swh/loader/git/tests/test_from_disk.py
--- a/swh/loader/git/tests/test_from_disk.py
+++ b/swh/loader/git/tests/test_from_disk.py
@@ -336,13 +336,13 @@
         )
 
     def test_load_filter_branches(self):
-        filtered_branches = {b"refs/pull/42/merge"}
-        unfiltered_branches = {b"refs/pull/42/head"}
+        filtered_branches = {b"refs/pull/42/merge", b"refs/pull/42/head"}
+        unfiltered_branches = {b"refs/heads/branch1"}
 
         # Add branches to the repository on disk; some should be filtered by
         # the loader, some should not.
         for branch_name in filtered_branches | unfiltered_branches:
-            self.repo[branch_name] = self.repo[b"refs/heads/master"]
+            self.repo[branch_name] = self.repo[b"refs/heads/branch1"]
 
         # Generate the expected snapshot from SNAPSHOT1 (which is the original
         # state of the git repo)...
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@
         # ... and the unfiltered_branches, which are all pointing to the same
         # commit as "refs/heads/master".
         for branch_name in unfiltered_branches:
-            branches[branch_name] = branches[b"refs/heads/master"]
+            branches[branch_name] = branches[b"refs/heads/branch1"]
 
         expected_snapshot = Snapshot(branches=branches)
 
diff --git a/swh/loader/git/tests/test_utils.py b/swh/loader/git/tests/test_utils.py
--- a/swh/loader/git/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/swh/loader/git/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -43,12 +43,4 @@
 
     actual_branches = {b for b in branches if not utils.ignore_branch_name(b)}
 
-    assert actual_branches == set(
-        [
-            b"HEAD",
-            b"refs/heads/master",
-            b"refs/{}",
-            b"refs/pull/10/head",
-            b"refs/pull/100/head",
-        ]
-    )
+    assert actual_branches == set([b"HEAD", b"refs/heads/master", b"refs/{}",])
diff --git a/swh/loader/git/utils.py b/swh/loader/git/utils.py
--- a/swh/loader/git/utils.py
+++ b/swh/loader/git/utils.py
@@ -86,8 +86,8 @@
     if branch_name.endswith(b"^{}"):
         # Peeled refs make the git protocol explode
         return True
-    elif branch_name.startswith(b"refs/pull/") and branch_name.endswith(b"/merge"):
-        # We filter-out auto-merged GitHub pull requests
+    elif branch_name.startswith(b"refs/pull/"):
+        # We filter-out pull requests related branches
         return True
 
     return False