Longtime Oxford Street institution, Sydney Sauna, has had their official Instagram permanently suspended, representing the latest in a long line of LGBTQ+ and sex-positive community figures and businesses banned by Meta.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Sydney Sauna confirmed they had lost the account, which had more than 5,000 followers, on Sunday 29 March, without any prior warnings or flagged content from Meta.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt no point did we use the platform to solicit or promote harmful or illegal activity,\u201d the sauna said. \u201cWe operate as a licensed hospitality venue, providing a safe, inclusive environment for consenting adults to connect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Established in 1989, Sydney Sauna has been one of the city\u2019s premiere sex-on-premises venues, preserving Sydney\u2019s long and internationally recognised<\/a> history of sauna and cruising culture.<\/p>\n \u201cThe lack of transparency in this decision is concerning,\u201d they continued. \u201cAs a long-standing LGBTQ+ venue in Sydney, we believe there needs to be greater clarity and consistency in how platforms apply their policies, particularly when they impact queer spaces and businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n Similar stories can be found across the community. Queer nightlife collective Rave Temple, who run all-gender sauna parties, had both their Instagram and Facebook accounts permanently disabled in December 2025 for what Meta claimed was \u201chuman exploitation\u201d.<\/p>\n Despite support from local council members and state government representatives, as well as multiple attempts to seek clarification about what actually constituted the ban, organisers were unable to receive any substantial communication from the social media giant.<\/p>\n \u201cMeta has refused to provide any meaningful explanation beyond vague claims that we \u2018broke rules\u2019,\u201d said organiser Paisley Heart, who also lost their own personal artist account and other associated business pages.<\/p>\n \u201cThe impact has been enormous. Like many queer grassroots organisations, social media wasn\u2019t just marketing for us; it was our primary infrastructure for community connection, event organising, education, harm reduction, and survival,\u201d said Heart. \u201cLosing those platforms overnight dramatically affected ticket sales, visibility, partnerships, and income for not only us as organisers, but also the DJs, performers, venues, photographers, and community workers connected to our events.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve watched queer nightlife collectives and sex-positive organisations internationally experience similar removals, often with little transparency or recourse. It creates a pretty scary effect where queer nightlife, and community care are increasingly treated as suspicious or criminal simply for existing visibly online.\u201d<\/p>\n Far from an isolated case<\/p>\n Sydney-based dominatrix and and sex educator Mistress Tokyo experienced similar discrimination from Meta, and was banned across multiple accounts on the grounds of \u201chuman exploitation\u201d in September last year. Although she\u2019d received warnings that her content was allegedly breaching community standards, she wasn\u2019t posting anything more sexually explicit than the average celebrity.<\/p>\n \u201cI had associated Instagram accounts that were to do with my consent education, business as a psychotherapist, so not directly related to my sex work, that also went down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cSex work has been decriminalised in New South Wales for 31 years. Meta doesn\u2019t recognise that, essentially, what I\u2019m doing is ostensibly legal.\u201d<\/p>\n A pillar of Sydney\u2019s LGBTQ+ and BDSM communities, Tokyo lost more than 15 years of work, not only as a dominatrix and educator, but also of vital community building and networking.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, there was basically reduced throughput through my business as Mistress Tokyo, but there was also a massive loss of community connection, absolutely huge loss, of essentially established networks that I had built over a long period of time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Early last year, Meta blamed a technical error<\/a> for the mass removal of LGBTQIA+ community groups across their social media platforms, which saw the censorship of content including information on mental health services and suicide prevention resources.<\/p>\n Although they\u2019ve stepped back from such blatant attacks on the community, the suppression of sex-positive LGBTQIA+ pages is a continuation of what Mistress Tokyo deemed \u201cpseudo-fascism\u201d.<\/p>\n The people and businesses affected are now being forced to either bend to Meta\u2019s strict and sometimes unclear guidelines, or step back from social media all together. Tokyo decided to relaunch her pages, but it didn\u2019t come without a cost. She says her online profile is essentially stripped of character and political leanings, and only feels safe to post glamour shots.<\/p>\n \u201cI just don\u2019t have the the emotional bandwidth to have it continuously taken down. I just decided that I would do one thing that I don\u2019t normally do, and that is basically roll over and do and just create content to the way that they want it.\u201d<\/p>\n Sydney Sauna has done the same, with their management having already launched a new presence<\/a> across Facebook and Instagram, and are process of developing revised content and strategies to remain connected to their community.<\/p>\n \u201cThis setback will not define us. Our audience remains strong and engaged,\u201d they said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cSydney Sauna has been part of Sydney\u2019s queer culture for decades. We will continue to adapt, advocate, and create spaces where people feel free to be themselves online and offline.\u201d<\/p>\n