diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/instagram.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/instagram.py
index e5e16ca3b2..ed3e071181 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/instagram.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/instagram.py
@@ -21,6 +21,18 @@ class InstagramIE(InfoExtractor):
             'title': 'Video by naomipq',
             'description': 'md5:1f17f0ab29bd6fe2bfad705f58de3cb8',
         }
+    }, {
+        # missing description
+        'url': 'https://www.instagram.com/p/BA-pQFBG8HZ/?taken-by=britneyspears',
+        'info_dict': {
+            'id': 'BA-pQFBG8HZ',
+            'ext': 'mp4',
+            'uploader_id': 'britneyspears',
+            'title': 'Video by britneyspears',
+        },
+        'params': {
+            'skip_download': True,
+        },
     }, {
         'url': 'https://instagram.com/p/-Cmh1cukG2/',
         'only_matching': True,
@@ -32,8 +44,8 @@ class InstagramIE(InfoExtractor):
         webpage = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)
         uploader_id = self._search_regex(r'"owner":{"username":"(.+?)"',
                                          webpage, 'uploader id', fatal=False)
-        desc = self._search_regex(r'"caption":"(.*?)"', webpage, 'description',
-                                  fatal=False)
+        desc = self._search_regex(
+            r'"caption":"(.+?)"', webpage, 'description', default=None)
 
         return {
             'id': video_id,