Meta had to be shamed into restoring queer club pages on Facebook and Instagram

This story originally appeared on Out.A months-long struggle by queer nightclubs across Los Angeles — as well as one historic venue in San Francisco — to regain access to Meta's social media platforms is finally over, according to the Los Angeles Times. But critical questions remain unanswered. Like, why did the powers that control pages on Facebook and Instagram take down the pages of Club Cobra, Club Chico, Catch One, Club Tempo, The Stud and that of an L.A. promoter of a transgender-focused club night in the first place?"Representatives for Meta, reached for comment, did not offer a statement or elaborate on the reasons for the suspensions," writer August Brown wrote in the story published Tuesday. Club owner Marty Sokol told the newspaper the Instagram page for Club Cobra vanished on New Year's Day, and the one for his other space, Club Chico, disappeared in May, without a warning or an explanation. But that wasn't the worst part for Sokol, Brown reported. "A.I.-driven search engines listed his clubs as permanently closed. Longtime regulars texted him condolences. By June 1, he said, every single one of his club's Instagram pages had been suspended, along with around a dozen pages from his staff and affiliated club promoters."“Your audience goes to look for you, and you are gone,” Sokol told the paper. “For 15 years we developed hundreds of thousands of followers who we were able to build community with. Then without warning or cause, they ripped away our ability to communicate with our community.”According to the L.A. Times, this happened to several prominent nightclubs in California, and many of them are popular among queer clubgoers of color. The result of losing their presence on Facebook and Instagram was a significant drop in attendance, leaving club owners unable to reach their fans and their businesses in a vacuum of digital invisibility. State political leaders took action, fearing Meta's moves could devastate queer nightlife. When The Stud,