diff --git a/lib/datasource/github/index.js b/lib/datasource/github/index.js
index e78a10ae5fadb1c00be7f66a2e38028b287b2e8d..b758893187c42a2c0016e3ffd6a66b6b4f0e2465 100644
--- a/lib/datasource/github/index.js
+++ b/lib/datasource/github/index.js
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ async function fetchJSONFile(repo, fileName) {
   try {
     res = await got(url, opts);
   } catch (err) {
+    if (err.message === 'platform-error') {
+      throw err;
+    }
     logger.debug(
       { statusCode: err.statusCodef },
       `Failed to retrieve ${fileName} from repo`
@@ -43,6 +46,9 @@ async function getPreset(pkgName, presetName = 'default') {
       const defaultJson = await fetchJSONFile(pkgName, 'default.json');
       return defaultJson;
     } catch (err) {
+      if (err.message === 'platform-error') {
+        throw err;
+      }
       if (err.message === 'dep not found') {
         logger.info('default.json preset not found - trying renovate.json');
         return fetchJSONFile(pkgName, 'renovate.json');
diff --git a/test/datasource/github.spec.js b/test/datasource/github.spec.js
index aa72db11d160c4b3977379f442accd5f277c8479..34ce5763002bcbe701a92b60837ca4b64f64d8e8 100644
--- a/test/datasource/github.spec.js
+++ b/test/datasource/github.spec.js
@@ -61,6 +61,14 @@ describe('datasource/github', () => {
     });
   });
   describe('getPreset()', () => {
+    it('passes up platform-error', async () => {
+      got.mockImplementationOnce(() => {
+        throw new Error('platform-error');
+      });
+      await expect(github.getPreset('some/repo')).rejects.toThrow(
+        'platform-error'
+      );
+    });
     it('tries default then renovate', async () => {
       got.mockImplementationOnce(() => {
         throw new Error();