NPR reported that TikTok has banned Andrew Tate, stating that the “influencer and former professional kickboxer known for his misogynistic remarks, has been banned from Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.”
Why was Andrew Tate banned?
When NPR asked TikTok why it banned Tate, the social media platform cited misogyny as the main reason. “Misogyny is a hateful ideology that is not tolerated on TikTok,” the company said.
This is not the first social media platform that has banned Tate.
According to Mashable, Twitter banned Tate in 2016 for claiming that women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted. Mashable reported that Tate became a well-known online personality, whose fans refer to him as “the King of Toxic Masculinity.” He is currently under investigation for human trafficking, per The Guardian.
The Cut reported that Tate’s content included arguing that “women are the property of men” and that his social media presence led Meta to ban him, citing its policy on “dangerous individuals and organizations.”
Who is Andrew Tate?
Andrew Tate is a former kickboxer who now runs an online program called Hustler’s University. The Guardian reported that he is “styled as a self-help guru, offering his mostly male fans a recipe for making money, pulling girls and ‘escaping the matrix.’”
According to The Guardian, he was on the reality show “Big Brother” in 2016, but he was kicked off the show when a video of him beating a woman with a belt surfaced. Tate has been criticized for violent and misogynistic comments since his rise to internet fame. He was the most Googled person in July — even surpassing Kim Kardashian and Donald Trump.
About his content, Hannah Ruschen, a policy officer for the U.K.’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, stated, “Viewing such material at a young age can shape a child’s experiences and attitudes, resulting in further harm to women and girls in and out of school and online.”