diff --git a/go/ql/lib/semmle/go/controlflow/ControlFlowGraphShared.qll b/go/ql/lib/semmle/go/controlflow/ControlFlowGraphShared.qll
index 76254e963d3..7a4db67f273 100644
--- a/go/ql/lib/semmle/go/controlflow/ControlFlowGraphShared.qll
+++ b/go/ql/lib/semmle/go/controlflow/ControlFlowGraphShared.qll
@@ -587,14 +587,6 @@ module GoCfg {
         n = any(Go::CompositeLit lit).getAnElement() and
         tag = "lit-init"
         or
-        // Implicit literal element index
-        exists(Go::CompositeLit lit |
-          not lit instanceof Go::StructLit and
-          n = lit.getAnElement() and
-          not n instanceof Go::KeyValueExpr and
-          tag = "lit-index"
-        )
-        or
         // Implicit field selection for promoted fields
         exists(int i, Go::Field implicitField |
           implicitFieldSelection(n, i, implicitField) and
@@ -1480,17 +1472,12 @@ module GoCfg {
           not exists(lit.getElement(_)) and n2.isAfter(lit)
         )
         or
-        // After element → optional lit-index → lit-init → next element or After
+        // After element → lit-init → next element or After.
+        // Positional array/slice elements have an implicit index that is
+        // modelled on the `lit-init` instruction itself (see
+        // `IR::InitLiteralElementInstruction`) rather than as a separate node.
         exists(int i |
           n1.isAfter(lit.getElement(i)) and
-          (
-            n2.isAdditional(lit.getElement(i), "lit-index")
-            or
-            not exists(PreControlFlowNode idx | idx.isAdditional(lit.getElement(i), "lit-index")) and
-            n2.isAdditional(lit.getElement(i), "lit-init")
-          )
-          or
-          n1.isAdditional(lit.getElement(i), "lit-index") and
           n2.isAdditional(lit.getElement(i), "lit-init")
           or
           n1.isAdditional(lit.getElement(i), "lit-init") and
diff --git a/go/ql/lib/semmle/go/controlflow/IR.qll b/go/ql/lib/semmle/go/controlflow/IR.qll
index fce3f5f5873..c860ce1908d 100644
--- a/go/ql/lib/semmle/go/controlflow/IR.qll
+++ b/go/ql/lib/semmle/go/controlflow/IR.qll
@@ -159,8 +159,6 @@ module IR {
       or
       this instanceof InitLiteralComponentInstruction and result = "element init"
       or
-      this instanceof ImplicitLiteralElementIndexInstruction and result = "element index"
-      or
       this instanceof AssignInstruction and result = "assignment"
       or
       this instanceof EvalCompoundAssignRhsInstruction and
@@ -578,7 +576,11 @@ module IR {
     Instruction getIndex() {
       result = evalExprInstruction(elt.(KeyValueExpr).getKey())
       or
-      result.(ImplicitLiteralElementIndexInstruction).isAdditional(elt, "lit-index")
+      // A positional array/slice element has an implicit index. Array/slice
+      // content flow is index-insensitive, so rather than materialise a
+      // separate index node the element-init instruction acts as its own
+      // (opaque) index.
+      not elt instanceof KeyValueExpr and result = this
     }
   }
 
@@ -627,54 +629,6 @@ module IR {
     }
   }
 
-  private predicate noExplicitKeys(CompositeLit lit) {
-    not lit.getAnElement() instanceof KeyValueExpr
-  }
-
-  private int getElementIndex(CompositeLit lit, int i) {
-    (
-      lit.getType().getUnderlyingType() instanceof ArrayType or
-      lit.getType().getUnderlyingType() instanceof SliceType
-    ) and
-    exists(Expr elt | elt = lit.getElement(i) |
-      noExplicitKeys(lit) and result = i
-      or
-      result = elt.(KeyValueExpr).getKey().getIntValue()
-      or
-      not elt instanceof KeyValueExpr and
-      (
-        i = 0 and result = 0
-        or
-        result = getElementIndex(lit, i - 1) + 1
-      )
-    )
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * An IR instruction computing the implicit index of an element in an array or slice literal.
-   */
-  class ImplicitLiteralElementIndexInstruction extends Instruction {
-    Expr elt;
-
-    ImplicitLiteralElementIndexInstruction() { this.isAdditional(elt, "lit-index") }
-
-    override Type getResultType() { result instanceof IntType }
-
-    override ControlFlow::Root getRoot() { result.isRootOf(elt) }
-
-    override int getIntValue() {
-      exists(CompositeLit lit, int i | elt = lit.getElement(i) | result = getElementIndex(lit, i))
-    }
-
-    override string getStringValue() { none() }
-
-    override string getExactValue() { result = this.getIntValue().toString() }
-
-    override predicate isPlatformIndependentConstant() { any() }
-
-    override predicate isConst() { any() }
-  }
-
   /**
    * An instruction assigning to a variable or field.
    */
diff --git a/go/ql/test/library-tests/semmle/go/controlflow/ControlFlowGraph/ControlFlowNode_getASuccessor.expected b/go/ql/test/library-tests/semmle/go/controlflow/ControlFlowGraph/ControlFlowNode_getASuccessor.expected
index 79d00c2af2a..3a6dab6b52f 100644
--- a/go/ql/test/library-tests/semmle/go/controlflow/ControlFlowGraph/ControlFlowNode_getASuccessor.expected
+++ b/go/ql/test/library-tests/semmle/go/controlflow/ControlFlowGraph/ControlFlowNode_getASuccessor.expected
@@ -969,9 +969,8 @@
 | exprs.go:16:17:16:23 | After struct3 | exprs.go:16:17:16:25 | selection of x |
 | exprs.go:16:17:16:23 | Before struct3 | exprs.go:16:17:16:23 | struct3 |
 | exprs.go:16:17:16:23 | struct3 | exprs.go:16:17:16:23 | After struct3 |
-| exprs.go:16:17:16:25 | After selection of x | exprs.go:16:17:16:25 | lit-index selection of x |
+| exprs.go:16:17:16:25 | After selection of x | exprs.go:16:17:16:25 | lit-init selection of x |
 | exprs.go:16:17:16:25 | Before selection of x | exprs.go:16:17:16:23 | Before struct3 |
-| exprs.go:16:17:16:25 | lit-index selection of x | exprs.go:16:17:16:25 | lit-init selection of x |
 | exprs.go:16:17:16:25 | lit-init selection of x | exprs.go:16:10:16:26 | After array literal |
 | exprs.go:16:17:16:25 | selection of x | exprs.go:16:17:16:25 | After selection of x |
 | exprs.go:17:2:17:40 | ... := ... | exprs.go:17:10:17:40 | Before array literal |
@@ -983,9 +982,8 @@
 | exprs.go:17:19:17:25 | After struct3 | exprs.go:17:19:17:27 | selection of x |
 | exprs.go:17:19:17:25 | Before struct3 | exprs.go:17:19:17:25 | struct3 |
 | exprs.go:17:19:17:25 | struct3 | exprs.go:17:19:17:25 | After struct3 |
-| exprs.go:17:19:17:27 | After selection of x | exprs.go:17:19:17:27 | lit-index selection of x |
+| exprs.go:17:19:17:27 | After selection of x | exprs.go:17:19:17:27 | lit-init selection of x |
 | exprs.go:17:19:17:27 | Before selection of x | exprs.go:17:19:17:25 | Before struct3 |
-| exprs.go:17:19:17:27 | lit-index selection of x | exprs.go:17:19:17:27 | lit-init selection of x |
 | exprs.go:17:19:17:27 | lit-init selection of x | exprs.go:17:30:17:39 | Before key-value pair |
 | exprs.go:17:19:17:27 | selection of x | exprs.go:17:19:17:27 | After selection of x |
 | exprs.go:17:30:17:30 | 2 | exprs.go:17:30:17:30 | After 2 |
@@ -1011,14 +1009,12 @@
 | exprs.go:18:9:18:22 | After slice literal | exprs.go:18:2:18:22 | assign:0 ... := ... |
 | exprs.go:18:9:18:22 | Before slice literal | exprs.go:18:9:18:22 | slice literal |
 | exprs.go:18:9:18:22 | slice literal | exprs.go:18:18:18:18 | Before s |
-| exprs.go:18:18:18:18 | After s | exprs.go:18:18:18:18 | lit-index s |
+| exprs.go:18:18:18:18 | After s | exprs.go:18:18:18:18 | lit-init s |
 | exprs.go:18:18:18:18 | Before s | exprs.go:18:18:18:18 | s |
-| exprs.go:18:18:18:18 | lit-index s | exprs.go:18:18:18:18 | lit-init s |
 | exprs.go:18:18:18:18 | lit-init s | exprs.go:18:21:18:21 | Before s |
 | exprs.go:18:18:18:18 | s | exprs.go:18:18:18:18 | After s |
-| exprs.go:18:21:18:21 | After s | exprs.go:18:21:18:21 | lit-index s |
+| exprs.go:18:21:18:21 | After s | exprs.go:18:21:18:21 | lit-init s |
 | exprs.go:18:21:18:21 | Before s | exprs.go:18:21:18:21 | s |
-| exprs.go:18:21:18:21 | lit-index s | exprs.go:18:21:18:21 | lit-init s |
 | exprs.go:18:21:18:21 | lit-init s | exprs.go:18:9:18:22 | After slice literal |
 | exprs.go:18:21:18:21 | s | exprs.go:18:21:18:21 | After s |
 | exprs.go:19:2:19:38 | ... := ... | exprs.go:19:8:19:38 | Before map literal |
@@ -1373,19 +1369,16 @@
 | exprs.go:61:9:61:22 | Before slice literal | exprs.go:61:9:61:22 | slice literal |
 | exprs.go:61:9:61:22 | slice literal | exprs.go:61:15:61:15 | Before 1 |
 | exprs.go:61:15:61:15 | 1 | exprs.go:61:15:61:15 | After 1 |
-| exprs.go:61:15:61:15 | After 1 | exprs.go:61:15:61:15 | lit-index 1 |
+| exprs.go:61:15:61:15 | After 1 | exprs.go:61:15:61:15 | lit-init 1 |
 | exprs.go:61:15:61:15 | Before 1 | exprs.go:61:15:61:15 | 1 |
-| exprs.go:61:15:61:15 | lit-index 1 | exprs.go:61:15:61:15 | lit-init 1 |
 | exprs.go:61:15:61:15 | lit-init 1 | exprs.go:61:18:61:18 | Before 2 |
 | exprs.go:61:18:61:18 | 2 | exprs.go:61:18:61:18 | After 2 |
-| exprs.go:61:18:61:18 | After 2 | exprs.go:61:18:61:18 | lit-index 2 |
+| exprs.go:61:18:61:18 | After 2 | exprs.go:61:18:61:18 | lit-init 2 |
 | exprs.go:61:18:61:18 | Before 2 | exprs.go:61:18:61:18 | 2 |
-| exprs.go:61:18:61:18 | lit-index 2 | exprs.go:61:18:61:18 | lit-init 2 |
 | exprs.go:61:18:61:18 | lit-init 2 | exprs.go:61:21:61:21 | Before 3 |
 | exprs.go:61:21:61:21 | 3 | exprs.go:61:21:61:21 | After 3 |
-| exprs.go:61:21:61:21 | After 3 | exprs.go:61:21:61:21 | lit-index 3 |
+| exprs.go:61:21:61:21 | After 3 | exprs.go:61:21:61:21 | lit-init 3 |
 | exprs.go:61:21:61:21 | Before 3 | exprs.go:61:21:61:21 | 3 |
-| exprs.go:61:21:61:21 | lit-index 3 | exprs.go:61:21:61:21 | lit-init 3 |
 | exprs.go:61:21:61:21 | lit-init 3 | exprs.go:61:9:61:22 | After slice literal |
 | exprs.go:64:1:64:19 | After variable declaration | exprs.go:65:1:65:24 | variable declaration |
 | exprs.go:64:1:64:19 | variable declaration | exprs.go:64:5:64:19 | value declaration specifier |