Firebase Realtime Web Always Returns True to snapshot.exists()

I am using Firebase Realtime Database to create a simple URL shortener. My goal, right now, is to look at the alias the user picked and check the database to see if it already exists. If the alias exists, the function is returned and the user is asked to create a new alias. If not, the data is added to the DB.

The problem I am running into is that snapshot.exists() always returns true. Even if the alias isn't in the database. I have looked at this question and several other questions, but they are all over two years old and are likely outdated.

My code looks like this:

const dbRef = ref(getDatabase());

function submitData() {
  var linkAlias = document.getElementById("alias").value;
  var linkInput = document.getElementById("text").value;
  var linkAuto = document.getElementById("auto").value;
  console.log(linkAlias)
  get(dbRef, `${linkAlias}`).then(function(snapshot) {
    console.log(linkAlias)
    if (snapshot.exists() == true) {
      console.log(snapshot.val());
      alert("This alias already exists!");
      return;
    } else {
      sendDataToDB(linkAlias, linkInput, linkAuto);
      alert("Success!")
    }
  });
}