diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 07e1de3ca..18606bc8b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ All notable changes to FlyBot (earlier: DS Bot) are listed here. The format foll
 
 - **Friends' Bots pending approvals:** outbound drafts Bot Social holds (`pending_approval`) show a persistent badge and Approve / Reject in Friends' Bots. Inbound messages still arrive immediately; Auto-accept still skips the hold. (#69)
 
+### Fixed
+
+- A chat with a friend's Bot that Bot Social has paused (turn budget reached, loop suspicion, emergency stop) now says so and points at the Bot Social console, instead of failing with a bare "Not sent: …" card. A paused conversation is no longer retried with the friendship's other Bots. ([#72](https://github.com/ThinkFlowLab/FlyBot/issues/72))
+
 ## [0.1.0] - 2026-10-14
 
 First public FlyBot-branded cut (core package remains `0.1.5-flybot.1`).
diff --git a/docs/subsystems/social.md b/docs/subsystems/social.md
index 42ae7ebe0..9065715c8 100644
--- a/docs/subsystems/social.md
+++ b/docs/subsystems/social.md
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ Everything in `plugins/social/` (entry `plugins/social/index.js` and any helpers
 
 1. Social code stays inside `plugins/social/`.
 2. Uses documented plugin APIs only.
+3. A server policy pause (`conversation_paused`: turn budget reached, loop suspected, emergency stop) never surfaces as a bare send error: both send paths (the `bot-social` transport and the remote-chat sender) map it to an error that says resending cannot help and names the Bot Social console, and no other member Bot is tried for it.
 
 ## Tests
 
diff --git a/plugins/social/src/social.js b/plugins/social/src/social.js
index 743b5fdaf..c950fac53 100644
--- a/plugins/social/src/social.js
+++ b/plugins/social/src/social.js
@@ -352,9 +352,20 @@ export function createSocial(service, config = {}, { client: given, home: givenH
   }))
 
   // ------------------------------------------------------------ transport
+  // Bot Social pauses conversations by policy (turn budget reached, loop suspected,
+  // emergency stop) and rejects sends with `conversation_paused`. The pause belongs to
+  // the conversation, not to the member that hit it: resending or switching members
+  // cannot help, so both send paths turn the error into one that says what does.
+  const isPaused = error => error?.code === 'conversation_paused' || /conversation_paused|turn budget exhausted|loop detected|conversation paused/i.test(String(error?.message ?? error))
+  const mapSendError = (error) => {
+    if (!isPaused(error)) return error
+    const reason = String(error?.message ?? error).replace(/^Bot Social\s+\S+:\s*/, '')
+    const at = config.server ? ` at ${String(config.server).replace(/\/+$/, '')}/ui` : ''
+    return new Error(`Bot Social paused this conversation (${reason}). Resending cannot help: approve pending messages or extend the conversation in the Bot Social console${at}, or remove and re-add this friend to start a new one.`)
+  }
   disposers.push(flybot.transports.add('bot-social', {
     async send(msg) {
-      try { return await sendOut(msg) } finally { dropStaged(msg.attachments) }
+      try { return await sendOut(msg) } catch (error) { throw mapSendError(error) } finally { dropStaged(msg.attachments) }
     },
   }))
   async function sendOut(msg) {
@@ -415,6 +426,8 @@ export function createSocial(service, config = {}, { client: given, home: givenH
         }
         return ''
       } catch (error) {
+        // A pause belongs to the conversation, not to this member: another Bot cannot send either.
+        if (isPaused(error)) throw mapSendError(error)
         lastError = error
         if (!/no_relationship|no active relationship/i.test(String(error?.message ?? error))) throw error
       }
diff --git a/plugins/social/test/social.test.js b/plugins/social/test/social.test.js
index 16109cc38..16a97dfc2 100644
--- a/plugins/social/test/social.test.js
+++ b/plugins/social/test/social.test.js
@@ -843,3 +843,29 @@ test('Friends\' Bots (#69): no cue when status reports no pending approvals', ()
   assert.equal(all.some(n => n.props['data-flybot'] === 'pending-badge' || n.props['data-flybot'] === 'pending-approvals'), false)
   assert.equal(plugin.PendingApprovals({ items: [] }), null)
 })
+
+test('a paused conversation explains the pause and names the console, without retrying other members', async (t) => {
+  const { ctx, stop } = await team()
+  t.after(stop)
+  const server = mockServer()
+  // Like the server's owner MCP: a failed tool call carries the platform error's code and message.
+  const base = server.fetch
+  server.fetch = async (url, init) => {
+    const body = JSON.parse(init.body)
+    if (body.params?.name === 'send_as_member') {
+      server.calls.push({ url, name: body.params.name, args: body.params.arguments })
+      return new Response(JSON.stringify({ jsonrpc: '2.0', id: body.id, result: { isError: true, content: [{ type: 'text', text: JSON.stringify({ code: 'conversation_paused', message: 'turn budget exhausted; owners can extend the conversation' }) }] } }), { status: 200 })
+    }
+    return base(url, init)
+  }
+  const social = createSocial(ctx.flybot, { server: 'https://social.test', inboxPollMs: 0 }, { client: createMcpClient({ server: 'https://s', token: 'owner-token', fetch: server.fetch }), home: { id: 'h1', handle: '@danyang.home' } })
+  t.after(() => social.dispose())
+  await social.registerAll()
+  // The user's direct chat: the error says the conversation is paused and what does help,
+  // and the pause is not retried with the friendship's other member Bots.
+  await assert.rejects(social.sendChat({ handle: '@coder.bob.home', text: 'hello there' }),
+    /Bot Social paused this conversation \(turn budget exhausted.*https:\/\/social\.test\/ui/)
+  assert.equal(server.calls.filter(c => c.name === 'send_as_member').length, 1)
+  // The same for a Bot's send through the transport (message_friend_bot).
+  await assert.rejects(ctx.flybot.bot.send({ from: 'a', to: '@coder.bob.home', text: 'hello from chief' }), /paused this conversation/)
+})