diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/9186-fix-broken-check-mode-in-github-key.yml b/changelogs/fragments/9186-fix-broken-check-mode-in-github-key.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..dbf1f145d5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/9186-fix-broken-check-mode-in-github-key.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - github_key - in check mode, a faulty call to ```datetime.strftime(...)``` was being made which generated an exception (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/issues/9185).
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/plugins/modules/github_key.py b/plugins/modules/github_key.py
index a74ead98483..b071e7b339d 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/github_key.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/github_key.py
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ def create_key(session, name, pubkey, check_mode):
             'key': pubkey,
             'title': name,
             'url': 'http://example.com/CHECK_MODE_GITHUB_KEY',
-            'created_at': datetime.strftime(now_t, '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ'),
+            'created_at': datetime.datetime.strftime(now_t, '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ'),
             'read_only': False,
             'verified': False
         }