diff --git a/goodnews/enrich.py b/goodnews/enrich.py
index 667dbdc..eeec566 100644
--- a/goodnews/enrich.py
+++ b/goodnews/enrich.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import ipaddress
 import re
 import socket
 import sqlite3
+import struct
 import urllib.error
 import urllib.request
 from urllib.parse import urljoin, urlsplit
@@ -30,6 +31,10 @@ USER_AGENT = "goodNews/0.1 (+local constructive news prototype)"
 TIMEOUT = 6
 MAX_BYTES = 300_000
 MAX_REDIRECTS = 3
+# Below this, a feed thumbnail upscales to mush in the card banner. Real share
+# images (og:image) are ~1200×630; tiny RSS thumbnails (~90px) are what we reject.
+MIN_IMG_WIDTH = 450
+MIN_IMG_HEIGHT = 250
 
 _META_RE = re.compile(rb"<meta\b[^>]*>", re.IGNORECASE)
 _HEAD_END_RE = re.compile(rb"</head>", re.IGNORECASE)
@@ -169,14 +174,53 @@ def fetch_og_image(url: str | None) -> str | None:
     return None  # too many redirects
 
 
-def _image_loads(url: str) -> bool:
-    """Confirm an image URL truly returns an image (HTTP 200 + image/* type).
+def _image_dimensions(data: bytes) -> "tuple[int, int] | None":
+    """Best-effort (width, height) from an image file's header bytes — PNG, GIF,
+    JPEG, WebP. Returns None for formats we can't cheaply measure (e.g. SVG)."""
+    if len(data) < 10:
+        return None
+    if len(data) >= 24 and data[:8] == b"\x89PNG\r\n\x1a\n" and data[12:16] == b"IHDR":
+        return struct.unpack(">II", data[16:24])
+    if data[:6] in (b"GIF87a", b"GIF89a"):
+        return struct.unpack("<HH", data[6:10])
+    if data[:2] == b"\xff\xd8":  # JPEG: scan for a Start-Of-Frame marker
+        i, n = 2, len(data)
+        while i < n - 9:
+            if data[i] != 0xFF:
+                i += 1
+                continue
+            marker = data[i + 1]
+            if marker in (0xC0, 0xC1, 0xC2, 0xC3, 0xC5, 0xC6, 0xC7, 0xC9, 0xCA, 0xCB, 0xCD, 0xCE, 0xCF):
+                h, w = struct.unpack(">HH", data[i + 5:i + 9])
+                return (w, h)
+            if marker == 0xD8 or marker == 0xD9 or 0xD0 <= marker <= 0xD7:
+                i += 2
+                continue
+            i += 2 + struct.unpack(">H", data[i + 2:i + 4])[0]
+        return None
+    if data[:4] == b"RIFF" and data[8:12] == b"WEBP":
+        fmt = data[12:16]
+        try:
+            if fmt == b"VP8 ":
+                return (struct.unpack("<H", data[26:28])[0] & 0x3FFF,
+                        struct.unpack("<H", data[28:30])[0] & 0x3FFF)
+            if fmt == b"VP8X":
+                return ((data[24] | data[25] << 8 | data[26] << 16) + 1,
+                        (data[27] | data[28] << 8 | data[29] << 16) + 1)
+        except (struct.error, IndexError):
+            return None
+    return None
 
-    Many publishers serve a signed or hotlink-protected og:image that 401/403s
-    on a direct request (e.g. the Guardian's i.guim.co.uk), so storing the URL
-    would overstate coverage and the card would never render it. We request as
-    the browser does — no referrer — with the same per-hop host safety as the
-    page fetch. Returns False on any error.
+
+def _image_loads(url: str) -> bool:
+    """Confirm an image URL returns a real, big-enough image (HTTP 200 + image/*
+    + dimensions ≥ the minimum).
+
+    Two failure modes this guards against: signed/hotlink-protected URLs that
+    401/403 on a direct load (e.g. the Guardian's i.guim.co.uk), and tiny feed
+    thumbnails (~90px) that upscale to mush in the card banner. We request as the
+    browser does — no referrer — with the same per-hop host safety as the page
+    fetch. Images we can't measure (SVG/AVIF) pass on content-type alone.
     """
     opener = urllib.request.build_opener(_NoRedirect)
     for _ in range(MAX_REDIRECTS + 1):
@@ -199,9 +243,15 @@ def _image_loads(url: str) -> bool:
                 url = urljoin(url, location)
                 continue
             ctype = (response.headers.get("Content-Type") or "").lower()
-            return status == 200 and ctype.startswith("image/")
+            if status != 200 or not ctype.startswith("image/"):
+                return False
+            head = response.read(200_000)
         finally:
             response.close()
+        dims = _image_dimensions(head)
+        if dims and (dims[0] < MIN_IMG_WIDTH or dims[1] < MIN_IMG_HEIGHT):
+            return False  # too small — would upscale to mush
+        return True
     return False
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_enrich_images.py b/tests/test_enrich_images.py
index a13947d..680e26a 100644
--- a/tests/test_enrich_images.py
+++ b/tests/test_enrich_images.py
@@ -68,3 +68,13 @@ def test_backfill_only_targets_summarized_accepted_imageless(tmp_path):
     n = enrich.enrich_summarized_images(c, fetch=lambda url: "http://og.jpg", limit=50)
     assert n == 1
     assert c.execute("SELECT image_url FROM articles WHERE id=2").fetchone()[0] is None
+
+
+def test_image_dimensions_parses_headers():
+    import struct
+    from goodnews import enrich
+    png = b"\x89PNG\r\n\x1a\n" + b"\x00\x00\x00\x0d" + b"IHDR" + struct.pack(">II", 1200, 630)
+    assert enrich._image_dimensions(png) == (1200, 630)
+    gif = b"GIF89a" + struct.pack("<HH", 90, 90)
+    assert enrich._image_dimensions(gif) == (90, 90)
+    assert enrich._image_dimensions(b"not an image at all") is None