UPDATE 23/08/2022: Google has terminated the two YouTube channels associated with Andrew Tate.
Andrew Tate is arguably the biggest social media star of the year – but for all the wrong reasons.
The former professional kickboxer and British reality TV star rose to global fame this year, garnering millions of Instagram followers and billions of views on TikTok within a matter of months.
That’s right – billions.
Despite his significant underage fanbase, Tate is far from a family-oriented content creator.
His self-described misogynistic teachings have quickly become the subject of heated discussions both online and in classrooms around the world.
However, his meteoric rise to fame may have just come to a screeching halt.
Meta confirmed over the weekend that Tate had been banned from both Instagram and Facebook, confirming that his content had violated their policies “on dangerous organisations and individuals”.
TikTok quickly followed suit, a representative confirming that his content violated the company’s policies that prohibit “content that attacks, threatens, incites violence against, or otherwise de-humanises an individual or a group”.
The revelations have prompted renewed calls for Google to delete his YouTube channels, and for TikTok to take further action to fully stamp out the influencer’s presence on the platform.
Who is Andrew Tate?
Also known online by his nickname, ‘Cobra’ Tate, Andrew Tate has been an inescapable presence on social media in recent months.
Once best known for being dumped from Celebrity Big Brother UK in 2016 after a video emerged of him allegedly beating a woman with a belt, in recent years his main endeavour has been becoming an online influencer and self-described ‘success coach’ for young men.
Sitting in sports cars and sucking on cigars, he presents his followers with an image of wealth and masculinity.
He sported 4.7 million Instagram followers at the time of his ban – an increase of 3.7 million from just two months ago.
Ultimately, Tate has been busy convincing his followers that they too could “get bitches” and his lavish lifestyle if they follow his instructions.
Among his extreme beliefs, Tate has said “depression is not real”, women can’t drive, and that women are a man’s property.
In a discussion with streamer Adin Ross last month, Tate explained how he believed he would be entitled to his significant other’s earnings.
“I wouldn’t even mind my girl doing [adult entertainment platform] OnlyFans, as long as I kept all the money,” Tate said.
“You’re keeping all [the money] though?” Ross asked.
“F–k yes,” Tate retorted. “Because she’s mine … It goes into my bank. I might gift her something, if she’s been good that month.”
Tate was also removed from Twitter in 2017 over comments about victims of sexual assault.
In a series of tweets, he said that rape victims needed to “bear responsibility”.
And Tate’s followers are as mature as you might hope. His fanbase runs horrifyingly low, with several school teachers sharing online just how Tate had overtaken classroom conversation.
“Just this week I had to have 6 convos with families about their sons saying s–t [to me] like ‘women are inferior to men’ [and] ‘women belong in the kitchen, Ms’,” one wrote on Reddit.
“Not only are they making these misogynistic claims in class but are literally refusing to do assignments if it’s sourced from a woman …I had three boys refuse to read an article by a female author because ‘women should only be housewives’.”
Why was he banned from Facebook and Instagram?
Both Meta and TikTok representatives confirmed Tate was banned from Facebook for his violation of their terms of service.
Tate appears to have now backflipped completely in a bid to reverse the bans, claiming he was merely “playing a comedic character” in his social media videos.
“Internet sensationalism has purported the idea that im [sic] anti women when nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “I am genuinely innocent.”
TikTok says Tate’s content is no laughing matter.
However, wiping their platform of his content may be a complicated task.
The issue? The millions of videos published on TikTok featuring Tate have been posted by his fans and followers, not Tate himself, meaning wiping him from the platform isn’t as easy as hitting a button.
TikTok confirmed it was in the process of removing videos and accounts containing misogynistic content.
“Misogyny is a hateful ideology that is not tolerated on TikTok,” a TikTok spokesperson told The New Daily.
“We’ve been removing violative videos and accounts for weeks, and we welcome the news that other platforms are also taking action against this individual.”
Millions of videos reside under the #AndrewTate hashtag on TikTok alone, with even more sitting under tags like #AndrewTateMotivation and #AndrewTateInspiration.
The spokesperson said TikTok was deploying technology to identify duplicate clips of the content so it can be removed.
They also said there was an ongoing investigation, with TikTok continuing to search, review and remove violative content.
As for YouTube, Tate still has access to two active channels – TateSpeech and TateConfidential.
Google, the owner of the video-sharing platform, did not respond to The New Daily’s queries about whether they planned to follow suit and remove his channels.
According to YouTube’s Community Guidelines, the platform prohibits content “promoting violence or hatred or groups” based on attributes, including sex and gender.
What’s next for Andrew Tate?
Tate’s prospects of ever rejoining his former social media platforms is highly unlikely.
Some celebrities, including singer Rihanna and comedian Chelsea Handler, have been suspended from Instagram temporarily for partial nudity in the past. However, they regained access to their accounts soon after.
Multi-platform bans of the nature handed to Tate have only been seen in cases such as far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and former US president Donald Trump.
Both Mr Jones and Mr Trump have yet to regain access to their media platforms following their suspensions, which came into effect years ago.
Having already assessed the damage done from his multi-platform ban, Tate has closed his popular ‘Hustler’s University’ program.
The subscription service, which cost US$49 ($71) per month and boasted a reported 100,000 members, claimed to teach “18 methods of Modern Wealth Creation”.
Tate regularly used social media to promote his program. He told media that Hustler’s University had “no future” as a consequence of the bans.
However, a contradictory post has since emerged on Hustler’s University’s official forum, telling members that an “exciting” update to the platform was coming soon.
