diff --git a/lib/pleroma/workers/receiver_worker.ex b/lib/pleroma/workers/receiver_worker.ex
index b28442042..193b500f4 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/workers/receiver_worker.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/workers/receiver_worker.ex
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
 
 defmodule Pleroma.Workers.ReceiverWorker do
+  require Logger
+
   alias Pleroma.Web.Federator
 
   use Pleroma.Workers.WorkerHelper, queue: "federator_incoming"
@@ -21,6 +23,16 @@ def perform(%Job{args: %{"op" => "incoming_ap_doc", "params" => params}}) do
       {:error, :already_present} ->
         {:discard, :already_present}
 
+      # invalid data or e.g. deleting an object we don't know about anyway
+      {:error, {:error, {:validate, issue}}} ->
+        Logger.info("Received invalid AP document: #{inspect(issue)}")
+        {:discard, :invalid}
+
+      # rarer, but sometimes there’s an additional :error in front
+      {:error, {:error, {:error, {:validate, issue}}}} ->
+        Logger.info("Received invalid AP document: (3e) #{inspect(issue)}")
+        {:discard, :invalid}
+
       {:error, _} = e ->
         e