By Antynet Ford
YouTube has terminated the official channel for the late Nigerian televangelist TB Joshua over the violation of hate speech policies.
The deletion of the channel with over half a million followers and hundreds of million views comes a few days after the investigation by BBC and Open Democracy that uncovered widespread sexual abuse and torture of the late televangelist’s followers.
The church has not made any comment about the channel deletion but the allegations of the wrongdoings were “Unfounded.”
This is the second time the church’s channel has been suspended in a period of three years following a breach of community guidelines.
The investigation by BBC found atleast 50 videos that were abusive on the YouTube Channel which they reported leading to the suspension of the account on January 29, 2024.
The Google-owned video-sharing platform said Emmanuel TV has been terminated for “Violating and hate speech policy.”
The content openDemocracy reported included Emmanuel TV footage of people with mental health issues being kept in chains, cases of medical misinformation and examples of smear campaigns against women who spoke out about TB Joshua’s sexual abuse.
His channel and Television Emmanuel TV played a key role in his rise from local pastor to global star.
The channel has been one of the most successful networks across the world broadcasting to millions of people.
Multichoice dropped Emmanuel TV’s satellite channel mid-last month. TB died in 2021 and his wife Evelyn Joshua took over the Synagogue Church of all Nations (SCOAN).
The late televangelist was famed for his ‘healing’ ministries where he filmed hundreds of services claiming to show healing to the physically disabled and those with chronicle illness which was debunked by former of his church members.
