Banned from Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, Kick-boxer Andrew Tate continues to hold a tight grip on social media.
The British-American Kickboxer is often pictured alongside luxurious cars and guns, constantly assuming the narrative of an alpha male. He has, on several occasions, voiced that rape victims must “bear responsibility”. Such ideas should have idealistically repelled or motivated a mass unfollowing, but his influence reigns on.
In many other videos, he speaks of women crudely, describing the physical and psychological abuse he would inflict upon them. Tate interprets this as how women ‘should’ be treated in his world.
He states, “It’s bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck. Shut up bitch.” The self-described “misogynist” claims to be a help guru to men and encourages women to escape the so-called “matrix” and thus “belong” to their man.
Since his rise, Tate gained immense viewing, with some of his previous social media accounts accumulating up to four million followers. Despite being banned, platforms like TikTok have done little to stop the reach of “inspirational alpha male” videos.
While most viewers see Tate’s videos as politically and socially unacceptable, many consider him a god. Such reactions, however, are unsurprising. Tate’s ability to twist toxic masculinity into a male right overshines his abhorrent comments and actions.
His videos which have gained more than 11 million views are often deemed “funny” and “motivational” by fans. This mass following was nevertheless not obtained by chance or luck. Members of his ‘courses’ are encouraged to share his most controversial TikToks to benefit from maximum engagement.
Nonetheless, the increase of internet following so extreme as Tate’s is not only due to his radical views.
‘Hustler’s University’
The private online academy is funded by circa 130,000 ‘students’ who currently pay £39 a month. Most subscribers include men and boys from the UK and the United States. His promise? To “teach YOU how to make money”.
Behind the scenes, it is, according to experts, a “blatant attempt to manipulate the algorithm” achieved by a system of copycat accounts.
In an interview with an anonymous source, a former member of Hustler’s University stated that he was interested in “finding a way to make money”.
At first, he “assumed that he [Andrew Tate] was playing a character, designed to be deliberately provocative to gain attention. However, I trusted his testimony on Hustlers University and after seeing some positive reviews online I decided to take a punt and give the service a try.”
Despite never agreeing with what Tate stood for, he considered him humorous and reiterated that he “didn’t take him at face value, and assumed he wasn’t being serious.”
According to the source, the service “appeared legitimate”, and there were claims that it was a “pyramid scheme”. Later, he realized it was anything but; “Affiliate marketing is just a promotion method and an easy way for users to begin.”
“After a while, it became more and more apparent that some of the things he was saying, especially with regards to women, was not a joke, and was in fact a glimpse into who he actually is,” he voiced.
As police investigation resumed and connected Tate to sex trafficking, he says, “realized that I couldn’t be paying for any service of his, so I canceled my subscription.”
I feel a little embarrassed having paid for Hustlers University, as I feel I have been made a fool of. Andrew Tate is not a good man and I unfortunately realised that too late.
Since January, Tate’s content has only increased in views and posts. Videos of interviews, often entitled “inspirational”, have attracted millions. Just this month, videos tagged under his name have been watched over a billion times.
His overactive fanbase, which includes members as young as 13 years of age, are being convinced that they can make up to 10k a month via lessons on “crypto investing, drop shipping and by recruiting others to Hustler’s university, earning 48% commission for each person they refer.”
In one of his ‘tutorials’, Tate states that a mix of “60-70% fans and 40-30% haters” are required for successful recruitment. The money-fuelled action of spreading Tate’s “teachings” and ideology will negatively affect impressionable individuals. Depending on the actions taken by social media platforms, such influence may have significant consequences in the future.
Director of the End Violence Against Women coalition, Andrea Simon, says many of these videos “clearly violate” TikTok’s guidelines. By avoiding further action, TikTok is directly “facilitating and ultimately profiting from the potential radicalization of its young male users”.
Tate’s Web of Allegations
Andrew Tate’s current controversy is only one of a plethora of reported events. In 2016, he appeared on Big Brother, where he was said to have hit a woman with a belt. Shortly after, he asked her to count the bruises he had assumedly inflicted. Tate was thus ejected from the house. Both events were allegedly consensual.
In the following years, he would post countless tweets containing homophobic and racial slurs. Gradually, causing an increase in attention and support. In 2017, he weighed in on the #MeToo movement, stating that women should “bear some responsibility”—a continuously reiterated sentiment.
“I go out and f*ck and I come back to her and I don’t care about her and I only love my girl. That’s not cheating, that’s exercise.”
In 2019, the police were called to Mike Stuchbery’s house after the journalist had been censorious of Tate’s online presence. This event encouraged the journalist and his wife to leave the UK.
The Kickboxer’s backward views have never been kept in the dark. Before his social media overtake, Tate complained about the “decline of western civilization” because of a poster he had seen at Heathrow airport “encouraging girls to go on holiday as opposed to encouraging being a loving mother and a loyal wife.”
On countless occasions, Tate has been connected and accused of abusing women. In April of this year, Tate’s mansion was searched by police after being notified that a 21-year-old American woman was being held captive.
Andrew and his brother were brought in for questioning and later released due to a lack of evidence. Romanian authorities have stated that the investigation is still ongoing and has not been closed in any shape or form. This case may be linked to human trafficking and further rape claims.
Prior to this incident, Tate specified that “40% of the reason” why he left for Romania was because “I like the idea of just being able to do what I want. I like being free”. “I’m not a rapist,” he adds.