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| Pastor TB Joshua of The Synagogue Church of All Nations in Agere, Lagos, Nigeria, who is the healer of Nigeria and Arsenal player Nwankwo Kanu (Photo by Matthew Ashton/EMPICS via Getty Images) |
YouTube has terminated the official channel of Nigerian televangelist TB Joshua's megachurch, Emmanuel TV, for violating its hate speech policies. The move comes after an investigation by the BBC and openDemocracy uncovered evidence of widespread sexual abuse and torture by the late preacher.
Emmanuel TV played a key role in Joshua's rise from local pastor to global star. The Synagogue Church of All Nations (Scoan) is now run by his wife Evelyn Joshua. The church has not commented on the removal, but has said previous allegations of wrongdoing have been "unfounded." Emmanuel TV had over half a million followers on YouTube and hundreds of millions of views.
The account was suspended on 29 January, following previous breaches of the platform's community guidelines. OpenDemocracy found at least 50 "abusive" videos on YouTube, which were reported to YouTube. The YouTube-owned video-sharing platform said Emmanuel TV had been "terminated for violating hate speech policies." Emmanuel TV was known for his "healing" ministries and filmed hundreds of services that claimed to show him curing the physically disabled and chronically ill.
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