Steve Bannon pulled off YouTube and Twitter after calling for ‘heads on pikes’ like in Tudor England

The official account for Steve Bannon’s YouTube show was suspended from Twitter last night, after the far-right commentator said the heads of infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci and FBI director Christopher Wray should be put on spikes. 

YouTube also deleted the episode from its site but the channel, Steve Bannon’s War Room which has 205,000 subscribers, remains available. 

The comments were made when Bannon, a former presidential advisor in the Trump administration, was discussing  what Trump should do if he was to return as President for a second term with co-host Jack Maxey.

He said: “I’d actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England, I’d put the heads on pikes, right, I’d put them at the two corners of the White House as a warning to federal bureaucrats.”

🤔 pic.twitter.com/37uelqzzpg

— Jack Maxey (@JackMaxey1) November 5, 2020

Twitter said the account @warroompandemic was “permanently suspended” because it violated the platform’s rules on the glorification of violence. 

Permanent suspensions however are not always permanent and Bannon will have the right to appeal, according to the site’s rules. 

As well as removing the video which contained the spike comments, YouTube said the account had been issued "a strike". The company has a three-strike policy before an account is removed.

Social media companies are struggling to contain a rising tide of misinformation and calls to action as the vote counting continues and frustration mounts. On Thursday, Facebook shut down a huge pro-Trump group that also included threats of violence. 

The takedowns and warnings are something Trump supporters appear prepared for. Before Facebook deleted "Stop the Steal," organisers directed members to an email sign-up page "in the event that social media censors this group."

The group’s membership surged because seven prominent conservatives promoted it to their hundreds of thousands of followers, according to Renee DiResta, a researcher involved in the anti-misinformation Election Integrity Partnership.