Andrew Tate & his brother Tristan are now spending their third month in custody in Romania after being arrested on charges of rape & human trafficking. The notorious influencer has risen to fame since around July 2022 & has become infamous for his misogynistic content & views against minorities, mental health & the #MeToo movement. But Tate isn’t being rejected from all parts of our society. An alarming proportion of young men are taking to his content, some viewing the former kickboxer as a prodigy, with incidents involving or linked to Tate significantly increasing, according to Prevent, the government’s counter-extremism programme. With Tate behind bars (for now at least), is there hope that his grip on many young people may finally be faltering?
The recent publicity about their arrests seems to be having some form of effect, both on the wider public & his legion of supporters. I spoke to Harry, a 19-year-old who regularly views content from Andrew Tate & is a self-declared Tate supporter. Whilst stating that “his content isn’t always agreeable, it makes it easy to spark debate”, particularly about “the government and rich people…money, power and men’s mental health”. When told about the human trafficking & rape charges, Harry said “if they did do it I hope they rot”.
The charges against him and his brother, whilst making some question the influencer, have lead to many coming out in support of him. Alex Davies-Jones MP, the shadow minister for digital, culture, media & sport, spoke out against Tate and faced a bombardment of death & rape threats from his supporters as a result. Research by The Independent found that 45% of men aged between 16 & 24 have a positive view of Tate, compared to 1% of 16–17-year-old girls. The arrest of Tate & his brother appears to be having an effect on young people, but this effect seems to include support from young men, rather than entirely rejection or condemnation.
Andrew Tate is particularly popular among 14–24-year-old men, the range of ages spanning from secondary school & including the vast majority of university students. Young people are much more likely to question the news presented to them, especially when this news comes from large corporations, government, or mainstream news services, so it is almost no surprise that information about Tate has been questioned among them. However, many seem to be going beyond questioning, outwardly refuting some of the claims about Tate that have been seen in the media for many months now.
Harry believes that social media services have “branded them as dangerous and deplatformed them” which he says, “is wrong”. He goes on to say that they’ve been represented “poorly and severely out of context”. When pushed further on this, Harry told me “a lot of clips the media used to slander him missed out many key points purposely. To paint him as misogynistic and/or crazy”. This point has been made repeatedly by Tate’s followers and Tate himself, after being removed from many social media platforms last year.
With trust in British institutions and media at record lows, it is not surprising that young people are being less influenced by mainstream media and are turning to alternative sources of information. Tate has created a space where young people are drawn in by his confidence, physique or success and are too enthralled to notice or care about the political views he is imparting onto them.
On the day of the pair’s arrest, interest for Andrew Tate on Google quadrupled from the level it reached over the summer of the last year, as many people were introduced or reintroduced to Andrew Tate. As can be expected, the initial reaction was one of shock, with a lot of media stories covering the arrests, Tate’s comments and opinion about the situation. However, as time goes by, coverage of Tate’s downfall has decreased, leaving space for his follower count to grow once again.
Andrew and Tristan were arrested on December 29th, following an online dispute with climate activist Greta Thunberg (thoughn her involvement in their arrest is disputed) on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime network. Since then, their detention was extended by 30 days, followed by another 30, with no trial date set. A lot of initial shock seems to be fading as a result, with support for Tate rising in its absence. Anna, a student from the University of Lincoln, told me about a member of her tutor group who “doesn’t think that [Tate]’s doing anything wrong, and makes a point of making it clear”. She thinks that whilst opinions may fluctuate with new stories, the fact that Tate has become “more known…makes [certain] people’s opinions amplified”.
Andrew Tate remains an infamous character and his misogynistic, discriminatory rants are still very present across the internet. It may be too early to see the total impact he has on the opinions and behaviours of young people, but early signs paint a grim picture of what’s to come, as schools & youth services face a threat to young people in a dark, new way.
If you, or someone you know, have faced any form of abuse, misogyny, harassment or discrimination, you can report anonymously or with personal details with the University’s Report + Support service – https://reportandsupport.sheffield.ac.uk
If you’ve been affected by any of the issues in this article, visit the Student Support Services website for further advice – https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/departments/student-support-services#teams
