The former goalkeeper has been permanently suspended for violating Twitter's rules regarding COVID-19 misinformation.  However it the action comes six months after Facebook and YouTube took similar action, saying Icke had posted misleading claims about the pandemic.

The 68 year old had about 382,000 followers on Twitter. His recent posts had included attacks on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci and the philanthropist Bill Gates.

In a blog, Icke said was banned for a tweet he had made about plans to pilot city wide coronavirus testing in Liverpool.

But over recent months he has made false claims such as suggesting that 5G mobile phone networks were linked to the spread of the virus, and that a Jewish group had also been involved.

Icke has promoted fringe theories since the 1990s, but but his theories, were not actualy taken seriously until COVID-19 arrived and for some reason he was interviewed on local TV station London Live.

It led the regulator Ofcom to rule the channel's owner had broken broadcasting rules because the segment had failed to sufficiently challenge his "unsubstantiated views".

Twitter's rules do not include a general ban on misinformation.

But in July, it would not allow any tweets about Covid-19 that were "claims of fact, demonstrably false or misleading, and likely to cause harm". It added that accounts that repeatedly broke this rule would be permanently removed.

Some campaigners believe action against Icke was long overdue.

The US social network had earlier blocked another prominent British conspiracy theorist, Kate Shemirani. Her account was taken offline with Twitter providing the same brief explanation for its removal.