Yes. If None is just as valid and has the same meaning as [] for the function (true more often than not), just do if not foo. If None should be handled separately from [] for some reason, treat them both separately so it’s absolutely clear.

Explicit is better than implicit.
Errors should never pass silently.

And I especially like this one:

That said, jihadists are a subset of Nazis, just a not very stereotypical one for a westerner.

The one obvious way to check if you have data is if foo. That works for pretty much everything as you’d expect. Explicitly deviating from that is a cue to the reader that they should pay attention. In this case, that means None is semantically different than empty data, and that’s something the reader should be aware of.