diff --git a/lib/platform/github/index.js b/lib/platform/github/index.js
index b8a07d87ee2f19bd2df1258e25f668aed88d2ed4..840dfe2cd940be983be53ffc249c3ce56ad3a316 100644
--- a/lib/platform/github/index.js
+++ b/lib/platform/github/index.js
@@ -304,6 +304,9 @@ async function initRepo({
           }
         );
       } catch (err) /* istanbul ignore next */ {
+        if (err.message === 'platform-failure') {
+          throw err;
+        }
         if (
           err.statusCode === 422 &&
           err.message.startsWith('Object does not exist')