Official YouTube channel of TB Joshua shut down

YouTube has shut down the official channel of TB Joshua‘s church because it broke the rules against hate speech.

Weeks later, the BBC and openDemocracy found proof that the preacher who has passed away, abused and hurt many people sexually.

Emmanuel TV helped him go from being a small-town pastor to a famous person all around the world.

TB Joshua passed away in 2021, and now his wife Evelyn Joshua is in charge of running his church, the Synagogue Church of All Nations (Scoan).

The church has not said anything about the removal, but has stated that previous claims of wrongdoing were not true.

Emmanuel TV had over 500,000 people who followed them on YouTube and had millions of views on their videos.

This is the second time in three years that their YouTube channel has been suspended because they broke the rules of the platform.

As part of the BBC’s investigation, openDemocracy looked at Emmanuel TV‘s website and found at least 50 mean videos on YouTube.

Their group told YouTube about the videos and the account got banned on 29 January.

Google’s video-sharing platform, owned by Google, said that Emmanuel TV was shut down for breaking the rules against hate speech.

TB Joshua was well-known for his “healing” work and recorded many services showing him helping sick and disabled people. But, some former church members have said that these claims are not true.

openDemocracy wrote an article that showed videos from Emmanuel TV of people with mental health problems being locked up, false medical information, and attacks on women who spoke out about TB Joshua’s sexual abuse.

Emmanuel TV’s TV channel was taken off the air on 17 January by MultiChoice, a South African company that operates DStv and GOtv.

For a long time, the channel was very successful as a Christian network, reaching millions of people worldwide.

After the BBC published their investigation on TB Joshua, some people who wrote about it have been attacked online by accounts related to his church and Emmanuel TV. openDemocracy also told YouTube about these accounts, but YouTube hasn’t taken them down yet.

YouTube and other social media sites are being closely looked at because of their rules about keeping people safe online.