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Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of rape, sexual abuse, and human trafficking.
Andrew Tate, a 38 year old former boxer, is a well-known Tiktok influencer infamous for spreading extreme misogyny and sexism across the internet.
He went viral over Tiktok in 2022 for making derogatory comments about women. An example of this would be his comment that if a man and a woman were in a relationship, the woman “belonged” to the man. Another example is when he said that it was a symbol of status and propriety for a man to have multiple affairs, but women with multiple sexual partners were immediately worthless.
Over the last few years, Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate, were both charged with human trafficking and rape. Andrew Tate was also banned from social media, which worsened impact of the algorithm’s tendency to push viral trends to more and more people.
Many women have also testified in court against Andrew Tate, accusing him of sexual abuse and rape.
Both Tate brothers moved to Romania, where they were again charged but never on trial for their alleged crimes. It is rumoured that they fled to Romania because its judiciary system is often known to delay trials for sexual abuse cases indefinitely.
But that’s when the general public began to turn its eye away from Tate, because he surely would have gotten his punishment by now. Andrew Tate was no more than another name on the wall of Internet fame that would soon be forgotten and meaningless. All his actions ultimately had no impact…
…right?
The Impact of the Algorithm
There’s a huge impact, actually.
We learned from Andrew Tate’s social media ban that bans are not effective at stopping a message from being spread. At all.
In fact, people are more likely to be curious about banned material. Many audiences scramble to view it, and before you know it, a banned topic has gone viral and is circulating all around the algorithm.
The Impact on Younger Boys
The majority of Tate’s followers and supporters are young men, who have found his content through its viral boom.
Although content like this might have started circulating as a meme or a joke, it eventually reaches audiences who don’t understand the full scope of the joke and will begin to believe it. That is the last thing we want our younger audiences to see, but it is increasingly harder to avoid as younger and younger audiences flock to their screens for entertainment.
Because we’re all stuck to our screens all the time, the algorithm pushes content that it thinks would interest its audience. For many younger boys, who might be watching harmless Minecraft videos, the algorithm recognizes them as a potential audience for popular content that older men are watching, like Andrew Tate’s content.
And then, these beliefs spread like wildfire. People like Tate still have so many supporters because of the naive “follow-the-leader” nature of the algorithm.
What’s Happening Now
The Romanian court recently sent the sex trafficking court case back to the prosecutors (DIICOT) after removing multiple pieces of evidence by deeming them inadmissible. These included testimonies from two main alleged victims.
DIICOT is an anti-organized crime processing unit, which is still in charge of the prosecution of this case. Although the case is still open, the ruling that sent the case back to the prosecutors was a major setback for DIICOT.
That having been said, the case is still open to investigation. Andrew Tate is also still awaiting trial for the sexual abuse allegations he faces.
Opinions from the Author
This article was incredibly hard for me to write. While I believe in always seeking the truth of situations, I think that Andrew Tate’s history and what he’s up to now is not one of the most pleasant topics. In fact, it was so gruesome that this article took many drafts, edits, and a ridiculously long time to write because at the end of the day, I wanted to communicate this message clearly.
You choose what information you ingest. You choose, through your every day scrolling, through the likes that you give, and through the comments that you leave, who you support and how you do it. The internet is a fast-paced world: people and trends come and go. It’s completely normalized.
It is so easy to hop on and off trends – mini-shorts, pink coquette ribbons, and coffee-shop aesthetics – but in my humble opinion, there are things that shouldn’t just be passed off as a social media trend. Things like human trafficking, unpunished crime, and misogyny… are all much more serious than the “brat-girl-summer” and should be treated as such. It’s so unpleasant to think about some of these things, but awareness is critical. Simply ignoring things doesn’t mean they cease to exist. Do something. Anything.
So make a choice. Choose to take action, to advocate for what you believe is right. Use social media as an outlet and an input of news, instead of an endless cycle of rage baiting and slang terms.
Adored in England for her charity work, which included becoming president of more than 100 charities. She raised awareness about initiatives aimed at supporting those struggling with homelessness, disabilities, HIV/AIDS, drug addiction, etc.
