diff --git a/lib/http-worker.js b/lib/http-worker.js
index 1aae2ee44..7a4a1778d 100644
--- a/lib/http-worker.js
+++ b/lib/http-worker.js
@@ -359,6 +359,9 @@ app.use('/block/', function (req, res, next) {
     // block access control only applies to files
     // identified by base64-encoded public keys
     // skip everything else, ie. /block/placeholder.txt
+    if (/placeholder\.txt(\?.+)?/.test(parsed.base)) {
+        return void next();
+    }
     if (typeof(name) !== 'string' || name.length !== 44) {
         return void res.status(404).json({
             error: "INVALID_ID",