YouTube Bans Channel Of Infamous Nigerian Preacher
YouTube has shut down the channel of TB Joshua, a controversial Nigerian televangelist who died in 2021, for spreading hate speech and misinformation.
The move follows a BBC and openDemocracy investigation that exposed his church’s involvement in sexual abuse and torture.
TB Joshua’s Emmanuel TV had over 500,000 subscribers and hundreds of millions of views on YouTube, where he claimed to perform miracles and healings.
But the video-sharing platform said it had violated its policies on hate speech, which prohibit content that promotes violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on attributes such as religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
The investigation found dozens of videos on Emmanuel TV that showed people with mental health problems being chained, slapped, and starved, as well as women accusing TB Joshua of sexual assault.
Emmanuel TV’s satellite channel was also dropped by a South African company that runs popular TV services in Africa.
The church, now led by TB Joshua’s widow Evelyn, has denied any wrongdoing and has not commented on the YouTube ban.
YouTube and other social media platforms have faced growing pressure to crack down on harmful and misleading content online.
