The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) YouTube channel – run by Joshua – was deactivated last week and is no longer viewable by its nearly two million subscribers.
OpenDemocracy, a media rights group based in the UK, told CNN it sent a message to YouTube on April 8 asking whether the conversion therapy videos were in violation of the policy.
“We noticed at least seven videos. In one video, TB Joshua hit a woman and her partner who he called her ‘second’ (partner) at least 16 times,” said Lydia Namubiru, OpenDemocracy’s Africa editor.
“He said he cast the ‘ghost of the woman’ out of her,” Namubiru said as she shared the content of the images flagged to YouTube and Facebook by her organization. The woman later told Joshua that because of his intervention, she no longer felt affection for her partner, Namubiru said.
“In yet another, a young person is … beaten several times and his dreadlocks shaved off before testifying that he is no longer attracted to men,” added Namubiru.
YouTube has not made a public statement about this. CNN tried to contact YouTube for comment, but it was unsuccessful.
CNN saw an email sent to OpenDemocracy on April 13 by a YouTube spokesperson who stated, “YouTube’s Community Guidelines prohibit hate speech and we will remove flagged videos and comments that violate this policy. In this case, we have Terminated the channel … We flagged the videos to us and took the appropriate action, resulting in the channel termination. ”
‘Prosperity Gospel’
Emmanuel TV, the Church’s broadcasting division, is broadcast in Africa on DSTV – a satellite service owned by South African firm MultiChoice.
In a statement posted to Facebook last week, TB Joshua Ministries said it would appeal YouTube’s decision to suspend its channel.
The Lagos-based mega-church also called on millions of followers to protest YouTube’s action on social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Responding to Joshua’s doctrinal methods, a spokesman for the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), an umbrella body of Christian groups in the country, told CNN that the association “does not interfere with how churches are run or how individuals run their worship centers. “
The YouTube sanction is a major blow to Joshua, whose relief efforts and humanitarian aid are shown in various parts of the world on the popular video platform.