Orlando LGBTQ+ bars say Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, suspended their accounts right after the city’s Pride celebration in October.
They’re not alone. Queer-owned businesses across the country have had their social media accounts wiped this year without explanation. For small businesses, especially those serving LGBTQ+ communities within red states like Florida, an inaccessible social media account is a lifeline silenced.
Instagram last week suspended Anthem Orlando’s account, @anthemorlando, just after it posted photos of its Pride celebration and hit its one-year anniversary, owner Mike Vacirca says. The posts show people dancing, hugging, posing for photos wearing rainbow-adorned outfits.
“There was no picture in there that’s even remotely off of G-rated,” Vacirca said. Anthem uses a filtering system to ensure photos are fit to be posted before they are shared.
Meta cited its Community Standards, but did not specify a post or which policy was in violation. Anthem appealed the same day. The appeal was rejected the next.
Also on Oct. 20, two days after Orlando’s Come Out with Pride weekender, LGBTQ+ bar Savoy experienced just about the same thing, owner Brandon Llewellyn tells us. But this time, the 22-year-old establishment was alerted its Instagram account was being flagged for violating Meta’s “human exploitation” policy. In other words: human trafficking.
Again, no post was specified. Savoy has yet to regain control of its two accounts, @savoyorlando or @savoyorlando_.
Llewellyn appealed the same day. Instagram told him it had reviewed Savoy’s account, “found we hadn’t broken any rules, apologized for getting it wrong, and told us we could use it again.”
That never happened. Instead, Savoy then received a final notice saying the account has been permanently deleted. They are now operating from @savoy.orlando.
Anthem, however, got its account back after about a week of trying to contact a human on Meta’s team, which is increasingly reliant on AI, and calling for action on Threads.
“We still don’t know what we were accused of,” Vacirca said.
Vacirca, who also works as a software engineer, dug into the suspension, only to find that Meta’s backend marked Anthem’s photos as — again — human exploitation.
The same photos were posted to Facebook and Threads at the same time they were shared to Instagram.
Anthem’s account was restored without notice on Tuesday. Vacirca says they’re lucky.
“LGBTQ bars, performers, Pride groups across the country are losing their accounts, and it looks like it’s to automated moderation or potentially to people that are exploiting the content moderation systems,” he said. “And a lot of them are not able to get their accounts back.”
Both Vacirca and Llewellyn know losing the ability to advertise and promote events on Instagram could negatively affect business, if not more.
Anthem’s first reaction, Vacirca says, was rage over Meta’s treatment of his and similar small businesses. But next, he saw the community band together in trying to get the account restored.
“Because for them, Anthem is their safe space,” he said. “This is not only an attack on our business, but it’s an attack on our community and our somewhat our identity.”
Meta this year has wiped the accounts of queer-led and -friendly businesses across the country. In Orlando, gay bar Stiffy’s Instagram account, @stiffysorlando, has been marked “unavailable” as of Oct. 24.
In St. Petersburg, four queer spaces — Cocktail, The Wet Spot, The Ball and Mari Jean Hotel — have reported losing Facebook and Instagram accounts this year. Cocktail, The Wet Spot and The Ball all still have accounts marked as “unavailable” as of Thursday afternoon. Mari Jean Hotel’s Facebook and Instagram feeds are up and running.
Anthem and Savoy’s account removals come just two weeks after Austin, Texas-based gay bar Rain on 4th told Chron that Meta disabled its Instagram account without explanation.
Owner Scott Neal told Chron that most of the posts flagged by Meta did not include nudity and largely featured G-rated photos of drag queens, Them reports.
Queer spaces Wilka’s Sports Bar in New York and both The Stud and Beaux in San Francisco both reported losing accounts at Meta’s discretion. They’ve all been reinstated since.
Meta does not explicitly cop to targeting LGBTQ+ or LGBTQ+ business accounts as a product of policy, but in early 2025, the social media giant updated its automated moderation systems, ad-targeting and “DEI parameters.” It has since increasingly suspended and restricted gay accounts, Human Rights Campaign reports.
