YouTube has suspended the account of influential Nigerian TV evangelist TB Joshua over allegations of hate speech. A rights body filed a complaint after reviewing at least seven videos showing the preacher conducting prayers to “cure” gay people.
Adding to this, Facebook has also removed at least one of the offending posts showing a woman being hit while TB Joshua says he is casting out a “demonic spirit”. The preacher said he was appealing against YouTube’s decision. His YouTube account had a total of 1.8 million subscribers with top politicians being among his followers.
A complaint was filed by UK-based open Democracy after a careful review into seven videos posted on TB Joshua Ministries Youtube channel between 2016 and 2020. The videos showed the preacher conducting prayers to “cure” gay people.
“YouTube’s Community Guidelines prohibit hate speech and we remove flagged videos and comments that violate these policies. In this case we have terminated the channel,” a YouTube spokesperson told open Democracy.
YouTube added that it “prohibits content which alleges that someone is mentally ill, diseased, or inferior because of their membership in a protected group including sexual orientation,” the rights group said.
A post on TB Joshua Ministries Facebook account said :We had a long and fruitful relationship with YouTube and believe this decision was made in haste.
