Sooner or later, some things become inevitable.
Tia Emma Billinger, better known as Bonnie Blue, a 26-year-old British adult-content creator, was detained in Bali after police raided a studio in Desa Pererenan, Mengwi, Badung Regency. The operation took place on Thursday, 4 December 2025, around 14:30 WITA, following a public tip-off that suspicious activity was taking place inside the building.
When officers arrived, they suspected that an explicit content shoot was underway.
Inside the studio, authorities uncovered a range of items that strongly suggested the production of pornographic material.
Cameras, tripods, lighting equipment, multiple memory cards and flash drives, themed outfits, condoms, lubricants, various performance enhancing pills like Viagra, personal props, and a stack of T-shirts linked to the event were seized. Police also impounded a bright blue pickup truck branded "BangBus" along with its ownership documents. In total, 18 foreign nationals were detained.
The chain of events leading to the raid had begun weeks earlier. Bonnie Blue arrived in Bali in late November 2025, promoting what she described as a Southeast Asia “Bangbus” tour across her social platforms.
Days before her detention, she posted videos of herself riding around the island with groups of young foreign men in the now-infamous blue truck. Some of her content openly invited young adults and recent high-school graduates vacationing in Bali to meet up.
This alone, is already an alarming detail given Indonesia’s strict anti-pornography and decency laws.
On the afternoon of 4 December, after receiving the community report, police quickly moved to the Pererenan studio.
Loud activity, filming equipment, and clusters of foreigners had already drawn attention.
When officers entered the building, they found 19 people inside, including the Derbyshire-born influencer Bonnie and several men believed to be involved in or assisting with the filming.
By the evening of 4 December and into the morning of the 5th, investigators began formally questioning those detained. Bonnie Blue and three male foreigners were held for intensive examination as suspected key participants in the operation.
Fourteen Australians (intials: JM (24), MT (27), DS (27), MP (40), PR (37), TL (25), BL (26), TR (25), AAG (20), BS (19), KM (22), MM (21), CC (19), and KR (24)) were treated as witnesses, and escorted back to their accommodations under police and immigration supervision.
"After receiving the report, we went to the studio suspected of being used to produce videos intended for online distribution," Badung Police Chief AKBP M. Arif Batubara said.
On 5 December, Bali’s immigration authorities confirmed that Bonnie’s passport had been confiscated to prevent her from leaving the country while the investigation continued.
Police began analyzing the seized electronic devices and materials to determine whether explicit content had been created, distributed, or prepared for upload: a crucial factor under Indonesian law.
Officials emphasized that the case involved possible violations of both the national Pornography Law and the Information and Electronic Transactions Law, each carrying severe penalties.
Over the following days, more details surfaced through media coverage.
Police noted that the group described themselves as a "community" of creators, though investigators had not yet determined the exact nature of the activities inside the studio.
Footage of Bonnie riding in the Bangbus-style truck continued circulating online, fueling widespread public scrutiny. Authorities reiterated that foreign content creators, especially those producing adult material, would face increasingly tight monitoring in Bali.
As the investigation progressed, police and immigration officials continued coordinating closely. Authorities stated that the activities allegedly undertaken in the studio could violate Indonesia’s strict morality and decency laws, which prohibit the creation, transmission, or distribution of pornographic material.
Public interest in the case grew rapidly, in part due to Bonnie Blue’s controversial history,including a widely criticized stunt in which she claimed to have had sexual intercourse with 1,057 men in 12 hours.
The raid and detainment have highlighted the growing tension between Bali’s global tourism appeal and Indonesia’s conservative legal framework, especially regarding explicit content.
During the investigative stage, no formal charges against the detained individuals have been announced, but all individuals remained under investigation. The authorities continue reviewing evidence to determine what occurred inside the studio that afternoon.