3 weeks ago
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Janvic Mateo - The Philippine Star
February 21, 2025 | 12:00am
This photo shows a picture of doomsday preacher Apollo Quiboloy beside the logo of Sonshine Media Network International.
. Released / Sonshine Media
MANILA, Philippines — Video-sharing platform YouTube has disabled additional accounts affiliated with Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), the media arm of detained televangelist and senatorial aspirant Apollo Quiboloy.
SMNI confirmed yesterday that several administrator accounts managing its YouTube channels had been deactivated, leading to its loss of access to the affected pages.
“As of today, there are 21 SMNI-affiliated pages and channels that have been terminated across various social media platforms under the Marcos administration,” SMNI stated in a post on its website yesterday morning.
An infographic posted by SMNI on X, formerly Twitter, detailed the extent of the deactivations: four Facebook accounts terminated, 13 YouTube affiliate channels disabled and four TikTok channels removed.
Google, the parent company of YouTube, earlier confirmed that the pages were removed for violation of its community guidelines.
“Google is committed to compliance with applicable US sanctions laws and enforces related policies under its Terms of Service. After review and consistent with these policies, we terminated the Laban Kasama ang Bayan, KOJC & SMNI YouTube channels,” a YouTube spokesperson told The STAR in 2023.
In January 2024, the National Telecommunications Commission indefinitely suspended SMNI’s television and radio operations, citing the network’s failure to comply with a prior 30-day suspension order issued on Dec. 19, 2023.
Despite the growing number of deactivations and suspensions, SMNI noted that some of its channels remain active and encouraged its followers to subscribe to the remaining platforms.
The wave of account deactivations began in 2023 after the US government imposed sanctions against Quiboloy under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.
Quiboloy, the leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ religious group, is currently detained in Pasig City on charges of human trafficking and sexual abuse.
He is also wanted in the US for alleged labor and sex trafficking. – Rainier Allan Ronda
