diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c7e4ce0..f67fedd 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,11 @@
 The `pycldf` package adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 
+## [unreleased]
+
+Fixed issue whereby CLDF Markdown content was validated even if not explicitely requested.
+
+
 ## [1.40.0] - 2024-12-13
 
 - Support certain GitHub URLs as dataset locators.
diff --git a/src/pycldf/commands/validate.py b/src/pycldf/commands/validate.py
index 982897d..9f20202 100644
--- a/src/pycldf/commands/validate.py
+++ b/src/pycldf/commands/validate.py
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ def run(args):
     if not cldf.validate(log=args.log):
         return 1
 
+    if not args.with_cldf_markdown:
+        return 0
+
     missing = collections.Counter()
     links = []