diff --git a/instaloader/instaloadercontext.py b/instaloader/instaloadercontext.py
index 5d9ed04..7659af3 100644
--- a/instaloader/instaloadercontext.py
+++ b/instaloader/instaloadercontext.py
@@ -372,8 +372,11 @@ class InstaloaderContext:
             resp = sess.get('https://{0}/{1}'.format(host, path), params=params, allow_redirects=False)
             if resp.status_code in self.fatal_status_codes:
                 redirect = " redirect to {}".format(resp.headers['location']) if 'location' in resp.headers else ""
-                raise AbortDownloadException("Query to https://{}/{} responded with \"{} {}\"{}".format(
-                    host, path, resp.status_code, resp.reason, redirect
+                body = ""
+                if resp.headers['Content-Type'].startswith('application/json'):
+                    body = ': ' + resp.text[:500] + ('…' if len(resp.text) > 501 else '')
+                raise AbortDownloadException("Query to https://{}/{} responded with \"{} {}\"{}{}".format(
+                    host, path, resp.status_code, resp.reason, redirect, body
                 ))
             while resp.is_redirect:
                 redirect_url = resp.headers['location']