diff --git a/bot/modules/instagram/extractor.py b/bot/modules/instagram/extractor.py
index f85eebe..af16453 100644
--- a/bot/modules/instagram/extractor.py
+++ b/bot/modules/instagram/extractor.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ from typing import Optional
 import orjson
 from curl_cffi.requests import AsyncSession
 
-from .auth import APP_ID, UA, NoSessions, Session, SessionPool
+from .auth import APP_ID, UA, LoginChallenge, NoSessions, Session, SessionPool
 from .content import Audio, Item, Post
 
 POST_RE = re.compile(
@@ -130,6 +130,14 @@ class Instagram:
             except Exception:
                 body = None
 
+            # A locked account is not a session problem: rotating to another
+            # session or logging in again cannot clear it, and trying only
+            # burns login attempts until Instagram answers 429 instead.
+            if isinstance(body, dict) and body.get("checkpoint_url"):
+                raise LoginChallenge(
+                    body.get("message") or "Instagram wants a checkpoint cleared"
+                )
+
             # An expired session is not a 401: Instagram bounces the API call
             # to /accounts/login/, which bounces back, so following redirects
             # burned 30 hops and surfaced a curl error instead of a dead