diff --git a/synapse/handlers/federation.py b/synapse/handlers/federation.py
index 694b820d8535..b790a7c2ef1b 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/federation.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/federation.py
@@ -1413,7 +1413,7 @@ def _handle_new_event(self, origin, event, state=None, auth_events=None,
             auth_events=auth_events,
         )
 
-        if not event.internal_metadata.is_outlier():
+        if not event.internal_metadata.is_outlier() and not backfilled:
             yield self.action_generator.handle_push_actions_for_event(
                 event, context
             )