Social media giant’s youtube has shutdown the Channel of Prophets Tb Joshua ministry for violating their Community standard.
YouTube closed the channel, which had more than 1.8 million subscribers, on April 12 after openDemocracy contacted it to ask whether this content violated the platform’s .
A video uploaded to YouTube in April 2018, then changes to events a week later.
Ms Okoye, accompanied by her mother and two sisters, testifies before Mr Joshua and his congregation that “the spirit of woman” had been destroying her life. But now, thanks to Mr Joshua’s intervention, she has “no affection whatsoever” for her “second” and “now I have affections for men”.
The video has been watched more than 1.5 million times on TB Joshua Ministries’ YouTube channel. It appeared first on Emmanuel TV, a television station owned by Mr Joshua’s megachurch in Lagos, The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN).
Between 2016 and January 2020, the channel posted at least seven similar clips showing the charismatic Christian televangelist engaging in violent exorcism to ‘cure’ gay and lesbian congregants of their sexual orientation by casting out “the demon of homosexuality”.
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 openDemocracy.
YouTube says it “prohibits content which alleges that someone is mentally ill, diseased, or inferior because of their membership in a protected group including sexual orientation.”
Meanwhile Tb Joshua Ministry has responded by asking their members to fill an appeal to youtube to lift the ban on their channel which reads below
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.
Emmanuel TV YouTube Channel Suspension!!!Emmanuel TV’s mission is to share the love of God with everyone – irrespective of race or religion – and we strongly oppose all forms of hate speech! We have had a long and fruitful relationship with YouTube and believe this decision was made in haste.
We appreciate your prayers and support as we are making every effort to appeal this decision and see the channel restored.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Good Christians are good citizens.- On YouTube, post comments with your concerns about this issue. – On Facebook, raise your concerns about this issue on https://www.facebook.com/youtube
On Twitter, tweet your concerns about this issue to @TeamYouTube – https://twitter.com/SCOANTBJoshua/status/1382629080722513926
On Instagram, share your concerns about this issue on https://www.instagram.com/youtube Please refer to our channel URL – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYPyAh4PaRbaTTXwGP_XmzA – when writing comments.
