diff --git a/roomserver/acls/acls.go b/roomserver/acls/acls.go
index 4d59c879..01e8820c 100644
--- a/roomserver/acls/acls.go
+++ b/roomserver/acls/acls.go
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/element-hq/dendrite/roomserver/storage/tables"
-	"github.com/matrix-org/gomatrixserverlib"
 	"github.com/matrix-org/gomatrixserverlib/spec"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
@@ -28,9 +27,8 @@ type ServerACLDatabase interface {
 	// RoomsWithACLs returns all room IDs for rooms with ACLs
 	RoomsWithACLs(ctx context.Context) ([]string, error)
 
-	// GetBulkStateContent returns all state events which match a given room ID and a given state key tuple. Both must be satisfied for a match.
-	// If a tuple has the StateKey of '*' and allowWildcards=true then all state events with the EventType should be returned.
-	GetBulkStateContent(ctx context.Context, roomIDs []string, tuples []gomatrixserverlib.StateKeyTuple, allowWildcards bool) ([]tables.StrippedEvent, error)
+	// GetBulkStateACLs returns all server ACLs for the given rooms.
+	GetBulkStateACLs(ctx context.Context, roomIDs []string) ([]tables.StrippedEvent, error)
 }
 
 type ServerACLs struct {
@@ -59,7 +57,7 @@ func NewServerACLs(db ServerACLDatabase) *ServerACLs {
 		aclRegexCache: make(map[string]**regexp.Regexp, 100),
 	}
 
-	// Look up all of the rooms that the current state server knows about.
+	// Look up all rooms with ACLs.
 	rooms, err := db.RoomsWithACLs(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
 		logrus.WithError(err).Fatalf("Failed to get known rooms")
@@ -68,7 +66,7 @@ func NewServerACLs(db ServerACLDatabase) *ServerACLs {
 	// do then we'll process it into memory so that we have the regexes to
 	// hand.
 
-	events, err := db.GetBulkStateContent(ctx, rooms, []gomatrixserverlib.StateKeyTuple{{EventType: MRoomServerACL, StateKey: ""}}, false)
+	events, err := db.GetBulkStateACLs(ctx, rooms)
 	if err != nil {
 		logrus.WithError(err).Errorf("Failed to get server ACLs for all rooms: %q", err)
 	}
diff --git a/roomserver/acls/acls_test.go b/roomserver/acls/acls_test.go
index 16f3887d..d5a36a61 100644
--- a/roomserver/acls/acls_test.go
+++ b/roomserver/acls/acls_test.go
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/element-hq/dendrite/roomserver/storage/tables"
-	"github.com/matrix-org/gomatrixserverlib"
 	"github.com/matrix-org/gomatrixserverlib/spec"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
@@ -108,11 +107,11 @@ var (
 
 type dummyACLDB struct{}
 
-func (d dummyACLDB) RoomsWithACLs(ctx context.Context) ([]string, error) {
+func (d dummyACLDB) RoomsWithACLs(_ context.Context) ([]string, error) {
 	return []string{"1", "2"}, nil
 }
 
-func (d dummyACLDB) GetBulkStateContent(ctx context.Context, roomIDs []string, tuples []gomatrixserverlib.StateKeyTuple, allowWildcards bool) ([]tables.StrippedEvent, error) {
+func (d dummyACLDB) GetBulkStateACLs(_ context.Context, _ []string) ([]tables.StrippedEvent, error) {
 	return []tables.StrippedEvent{
 		{
 			RoomID:       "1",
diff --git a/roomserver/storage/interface.go b/roomserver/storage/interface.go
index 49086dba..3bdeeef8 100644
--- a/roomserver/storage/interface.go
+++ b/roomserver/storage/interface.go
@@ -187,6 +187,8 @@ type Database interface {
 
 	// RoomsWithACLs returns all room IDs for rooms with ACLs
 	RoomsWithACLs(ctx context.Context) ([]string, error)
+	// GetBulkStateACLs returns all server ACLs for the given rooms.
+	GetBulkStateACLs(ctx context.Context, roomIDs []string) ([]tables.StrippedEvent, error)
 	QueryAdminEventReports(ctx context.Context, from uint64, limit uint64, backwards bool, userID string, roomID string) ([]api.QueryAdminEventReportsResponse, int64, error)
 	QueryAdminEventReport(ctx context.Context, reportID uint64) (api.QueryAdminEventReportResponse, error)
 	AdminDeleteEventReport(ctx context.Context, reportID uint64) error
diff --git a/roomserver/storage/shared/storage.go b/roomserver/storage/shared/storage.go
index a4eb0eb9..6eb1518b 100644
--- a/roomserver/storage/shared/storage.go
+++ b/roomserver/storage/shared/storage.go
@@ -1437,6 +1437,63 @@ func (d *Database) GetRoomsByMembership(ctx context.Context, userID spec.UserID,
 	return roomIDs, nil
 }
 
+// GetBulkStateACLs is a lighter weight form of GetBulkStateContent, which only returns ACL state events.
+func (d *Database) GetBulkStateACLs(ctx context.Context, roomIDs []string) ([]tables.StrippedEvent, error) {
+	tuples := []gomatrixserverlib.StateKeyTuple{{EventType: "m.room.server_acl", StateKey: ""}}
+
+	var eventNIDs []types.EventNID
+	eventNIDToVer := make(map[types.EventNID]gomatrixserverlib.RoomVersion)
+	// TODO: This feels like this is going to be really slow...
+	for _, roomID := range roomIDs {
+		roomInfo, err2 := d.roomInfo(ctx, nil, roomID)
+		if err2 != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("GetBulkStateACLs: failed to load room info for room %s : %w", roomID, err2)
+		}
+		// for unknown rooms or rooms which we don't have the current state, skip them.
+		if roomInfo == nil || roomInfo.IsStub() {
+			continue
+		}
+		// No querier needed, as we don't actually do state resolution
+		stateRes := state.NewStateResolution(d, roomInfo, nil)
+		entries, err2 := stateRes.LoadStateAtSnapshotForStringTuples(ctx, roomInfo.StateSnapshotNID(), tuples)
+		if err2 != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("GetBulkStateACLs: failed to load state for room %s : %w", roomID, err2)
+		}
+		for _, entry := range entries {
+			eventNIDs = append(eventNIDs, entry.EventNID)
+			eventNIDToVer[entry.EventNID] = roomInfo.RoomVersion
+		}
+	}
+	eventIDs, err := d.EventsTable.BulkSelectEventID(ctx, nil, eventNIDs)
+	if err != nil {
+		eventIDs = map[types.EventNID]string{}
+	}
+	events, err := d.EventJSONTable.BulkSelectEventJSON(ctx, nil, eventNIDs)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("GetBulkStateACLs: failed to load event JSON for event nids: %w", err)
+	}
+	result := make([]tables.StrippedEvent, len(events))
+	for i := range events {
+		roomVer := eventNIDToVer[events[i].EventNID]
+		verImpl, err := gomatrixserverlib.GetRoomVersion(roomVer)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		ev, err := verImpl.NewEventFromTrustedJSONWithEventID(eventIDs[events[i].EventNID], events[i].EventJSON, false)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("GetBulkStateACLs: failed to load event JSON for event NID %v : %w", events[i].EventNID, err)
+		}
+		result[i] = tables.StrippedEvent{
+			EventType:    ev.Type(),
+			RoomID:       ev.RoomID().String(),
+			StateKey:     *ev.StateKey(),
+			ContentValue: tables.ExtractContentValue(&types.HeaderedEvent{PDU: ev}),
+		}
+	}
+
+	return result, nil
+}
+
 // GetBulkStateContent returns all state events which match a given room ID and a given state key tuple. Both must be satisfied for a match.
 // If a tuple has the StateKey of '*' and allowWildcards=true then all state events with the EventType should be returned.
 func (d *Database) GetBulkStateContent(ctx context.Context, roomIDs []string, tuples []gomatrixserverlib.StateKeyTuple, allowWildcards bool) ([]tables.StrippedEvent, error) {