diff --git a/book/changelog.md b/book/changelog.md
index 369a850f..e78fcf96 100644
--- a/book/changelog.md
+++ b/book/changelog.md
@@ -209,6 +209,10 @@ This will be the first release of Grapevine since it was forked from Conduit
     after a successful request, causing an increasing rate of key query failures
     over time until a server restart.
     ([!149](https://gitlab.computer.surgery/matrix/grapevine/-/merge_requests/149))
+23. Fix bug where remote key queries that were skipped because the target server
+    was in backoff would increment the backoff delay further, leading to a
+    positive feedback loop.
+    ([!149](https://gitlab.computer.surgery/matrix/grapevine/-/merge_requests/149))
 
 ### Added
 
diff --git a/src/api/client_server/keys.rs b/src/api/client_server/keys.rs
index 3b5603c9..304be1d0 100644
--- a/src/api/client_server/keys.rs
+++ b/src/api/client_server/keys.rs
@@ -498,6 +498,8 @@ async fn request_keys_from(
     server: &ServerName,
     keys: Vec<(&UserId, &Vec<OwnedDeviceId>)>,
 ) -> Result<federation::keys::get_keys::v1::Response> {
+    check_key_requests_back_off(server).await?;
+
     let result = request_keys_from_inner(server, keys).await;
     match &result {
         Ok(_) => reset_key_request_back_off(server).await,
@@ -513,8 +515,6 @@ async fn request_keys_from_inner(
     server: &ServerName,
     keys: Vec<(&UserId, &Vec<OwnedDeviceId>)>,
 ) -> Result<federation::keys::get_keys::v1::Response> {
-    check_key_requests_back_off(server).await?;
-
     let mut device_keys_input_fed = BTreeMap::new();
     for (user_id, keys) in keys {
         device_keys_input_fed.insert(user_id.to_owned(), keys.clone());