diff --git a/lib/internal/modules/esm/initialize_import_meta.js b/lib/internal/modules/esm/initialize_import_meta.js
index 8f07eca2d9b065..a7b38600b18bf5 100644
--- a/lib/internal/modules/esm/initialize_import_meta.js
+++ b/lib/internal/modules/esm/initialize_import_meta.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 'use strict';
 
+const { StringPrototypeSlice } = primordials
 const { getOptionValue } = require('internal/options');
 const { fileURLToPath } = require('url');
 const { dirname } = require('path');
@@ -60,7 +61,7 @@ function initializeImportMeta(meta, context, loader) {
  * @returns {{__dirname?: string, __filename?: string}}
  */
 function resolveModuleMeta(url) {
-  if (url.slice(0, 7) !== 'file://') {
+  if (StringPrototypeSlice(url, 0, 7) !== 'file://') {
     // These only make sense for locally loaded modules,
     // i.e. network modules are not supported.
     return { __dirname: undefined, __filename: undefined };