The Miseducation of Andrew Tate

By Carrie Murphy

When an adolescent boy feels insecure or confused, where should he go for advice? What if he isn’t getting the answers he needs from his parents, teachers, or friends? For many of these cases, most boys turn to the diverse, largely unrestricted world of the internet. On Tiktok, Twitter, and Youtube, a community dedicated to male improvement, mental health, and relationship advice has carved itself a space, serving the demographic of lost, lonely adolescent men. 

Andrew Tate leads this community, after rapidly becoming the most recognizable face in the realm of male lifestyle. The influencer, who received his popularity from his multiple kickboxing titles and controversial appearance on Big Brother UK, skyrocketed in popularity on social media last spring. Tate markets himself as a guru, offering advice on relationships, careers, and lifestyle change. But any search past the surface level will open up a complex world of toxic masculinity, a pipeline that leads naive viewers into the alt-right. Tate isn’t on Tiktok himself, but he rules the platform with hundreds of imitation accounts, which repost clips of his podcast en masse. In these clips, you can find Tate implying women are men’s property, claiming depression isn’t real, and even describing how he would attack his woman with a machete if he ever caught her cheating. When asked about why he moved to Romania, he implied it was to evade rape charges, as the country’s laws on rape are looser than the US. His political beliefs aren’t a secret either; Tate appeared on the right-wing website InfoWars and expressed  his support for Former President Trump when he met with Donald Trump Jr. Tate’s  digital platform exists to indoctrinate, putting his extremist beliefs under the guise of “advice.” 

Tate utilizes his platform to flaunt his wealth. His rich, gloating, persona serves as an after-photo for those who want to understand how to improve themselves. He comforts those who feel untreated in life, and tells his followers that any issues they might have are societal, systemic efforts to bring them down. But what’s the solution? Consume his content, pay his fees, and follow his teachings with complete loyalty. For 50 dollars a month, fans enroll in Hustler’s University, online classes dedicated to reiterating Tate’s ideology. 

Tate’s  business model of exploiting young kids out of their insecurity is unethical, but not unheard of. In fact, Andrew Tate is one of many alt-right influencers who market toward adolescent boys and recommend bigoted ideals as an explanation. The “incel” community, short for “involuntarily celebite”, is an online community for straight men dedicated to finding explanations for their lack of female romantic attention. Communities like these attract insecurity, because they offer a solution to the audience’s problems that don’t require them to confront issues in their own identity. 

In August, after widespread backlash from opposing viewers, Andrew Tate’s accounts on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube were permanently banned. When asked for their reasoning, social media outlets claimed Tate was violating community guidelines pertaining hate speech and impersonation. While the ban prevented more Tate clips to be shared, in some ways the damage had already been done. In such a short amount of time, Andrew Tate’s brand interacted with millions of internet users, through strategic boosting tactics and mass-reposting. Off the internet, children and teens were promoting his mindset through idolization, which evolved into bigotry. Teachers reported having to educate middle schoolers on hate speech after they heard them say misogynistic things to female students, which they had learned from Andrew Tate. Women in relationships have complained about their male partners changing views on women after watching Andrew Tate, saying that he is not the same person they originally paired with. 

Tate spreads hateful beliefs to a vulnerable audience, promoting them to a group that promotes violence, anger, and fear. The true solution to ending the alt-right pipeline is deplatforming people like Tate, who are responsible for making these ideas as widespread as they are. Social media companies must hold themselves accountable for who they allow on their platform, as they don’t know what they could be complicit in.