diff --git a/changelog.d/3964.feature b/changelog.d/3964.feature
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..599222eb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/3964.feature
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Remove spurious check which made 'localhost' servers not work
diff --git a/synapse/federation/transaction_queue.py b/synapse/federation/transaction_queue.py
index 8cbf8c4f7..98b595080 100644
--- a/synapse/federation/transaction_queue.py
+++ b/synapse/federation/transaction_queue.py
@@ -137,26 +137,6 @@ class TransactionQueue(object):
 
         self._processing_pending_presence = False
 
-    def can_send_to(self, destination):
-        """Can we send messages to the given server?
-
-        We can't send messages to ourselves. If we are running on localhost
-        then we can only federation with other servers running on localhost.
-        Otherwise we only federate with servers on a public domain.
-
-        Args:
-            destination(str): The server we are possibly trying to send to.
-        Returns:
-            bool: True if we can send to the server.
-        """
-
-        if destination == self.server_name:
-            return False
-        if self.server_name.startswith("localhost"):
-            return destination.startswith("localhost")
-        else:
-            return not destination.startswith("localhost")
-
     def notify_new_events(self, current_id):
         """This gets called when we have some new events we might want to
         send out to other servers.
@@ -279,10 +259,7 @@ class TransactionQueue(object):
         self._order += 1
 
         destinations = set(destinations)
-        destinations = set(
-            dest for dest in destinations if self.can_send_to(dest)
-        )
-
+        destinations.discard(self.server_name)
         logger.debug("Sending to: %s", str(destinations))
 
         if not destinations:
@@ -358,7 +335,7 @@ class TransactionQueue(object):
 
         for destinations, states in hosts_and_states:
             for destination in destinations:
-                if not self.can_send_to(destination):
+                if destination == self.server_name:
                     continue
 
                 self.pending_presence_by_dest.setdefault(
@@ -377,7 +354,8 @@ class TransactionQueue(object):
             content=content,
         )
 
-        if not self.can_send_to(destination):
+        if destination == self.server_name:
+            logger.info("Not sending EDU to ourselves")
             return
 
         sent_edus_counter.inc()
@@ -392,10 +370,8 @@ class TransactionQueue(object):
         self._attempt_new_transaction(destination)
 
     def send_device_messages(self, destination):
-        if destination == self.server_name or destination == "localhost":
-            return
-
-        if not self.can_send_to(destination):
+        if destination == self.server_name:
+            logger.info("Not sending device update to ourselves")
             return
 
         self._attempt_new_transaction(destination)
diff --git a/synapse/handlers/typing.py b/synapse/handlers/typing.py
index 65f475d63..c610933dd 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/typing.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/typing.py
@@ -224,6 +224,7 @@ class TypingHandler(object):
 
             for domain in set(get_domain_from_id(u) for u in users):
                 if domain != self.server_name:
+                    logger.debug("sending typing update to %s", domain)
                     self.federation.send_edu(
                         destination=domain,
                         edu_type="m.typing",