Steve Bannon
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Twitter and YouTube took action against the account of Steve Bannon’s podcast on Thursday evening, after the former White House chief strategist called for the beheading of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert.
In the video, Bannon says the heads of Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray should be displayed on pikes in front of the White House “as a warning to federal bureaucrats.”
Twitter said it “permanently suspended” the account, @WarRoomPandemic, for violating its policy against glorifying violence. YouTube said it took down the video for breaking rules against inciting violence, and issued a strike against the account. Under the Google-owned video platform’s three-strikes policy, the offender cannot upload videos for at least a week after the violation.
Bannon also has a Facebook page where he posts videos of his podcasts. The social network said it removed two videos from his page.
“We removed these videos for violating our policy against violence and incitement,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.
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Bannon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The takedowns come as the US anxiously awaits the results of Tuesday’s presidential election. As vote count continues, tech giants have sought to police their platforms against misinformation and toxic content. Twitter has aggressively labeled and obscured tweets by President Donald Trump, who has baselessly claimed the election was marred by voter fraud. YouTube has been criticized for refusing to take down two videos by One America News, a far-right news organization that falsely declared victory for Trump.
In response to the Bannon video on Thursday, YouTube spokesman Alex Joseph said, “We will continue to be vigilant as we enforce our policies in the post-election period.”
