From Human Trafficking to YouTube Ban: The Odd Case of a Filipino Pastor

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Filipino pastor and self-proclaimed “Appointed Son of God” Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy couldn’t stop YouTube from terminating his channel for alleged violations of the platform’s community guidelines on June 21st.

Quiboloy’s YouTube channel was taken down after Canadian YouTuber Mutahar Anas, also known on the platform as SomeOrdinaryGamers, flagged YouTube’s support team on Twitter on June 20th and informed them about the pastor’s prior cases of human trafficking and his FBI warrant.

“Yo, someone at @TeamYouTube has to help the feds or shut this account down. Actual human trafficking priest is running a channel still reaching out to victims less than 12 hours ago.” Mutahar said on Twitter, mentioning YouTube’s official support account on Twitter. “Dude has an FBI warrant out rn.”

YouTube promptly granted Mutahar’s request to review Quiboloy’s channel and announced a day after he notified the platform that they had taken down Quiboloy’s channel.

"Hey, update here: upon review, we've determined that the channel is in violation of Community Guidelines & has been terminated," YouTube’s verified Twitter account said.

Before the suspension of Quiboloy’s channel, it had over 47,000 subscribers. His lawyer, Atty. Ferdinand Topacio said "[N]o comment” after GMA News, a local news outlet, asked him for comment on the issue.

Since February 2022, Quiboloy, who also serves as the leader of the religious group Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC), has been on the FBI’s most wanted list for human trafficking and money laundering charges.

The FBI said Quiboloy is wanted for "alleged participation in a labor trafficking scheme that brought church members to the United States, via fraudulently obtained visas, and forced the members to solicit donations for a bogus charity, donations that actually were used to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders.”

A grand federal jury in California also indicted Quiboloy and other senior members of the KJC for sexual abuse allegations, where he reportedly coerced girls and young women to have sex with him to save them from “eternal damnation.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department also sanctioned Quiboloy last December 2022 for severe human rights abuses. It blocked all his access and interests to his property.

The controversial religious leader also owns the Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI). This far-right media outlet often engages in rampant and baseless labeling and accusing politicians, journalists, human rights defenders, and activists as members, operatives, or allies of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), a practice known in the Philippines as “red-tagging.” He also supported the presidential campaigns of former President Rodrigo Duterte and current President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. in 2016 and 2022, respectively.

Quiboloy also became viral in 2019 when he claimed he could stop the 6.6-magnitude earthquake that rocked parts of Mindanao in the southern Philippines when he yelled “stop” at the quake.

“When the 6.6-magnitude quake hit, I was in my room, and I told it “stop,” and it did,” Quiboloy said in the viral video shared by YouTube user Vergel Cabero.

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