Social media platforms ban misogynistic influencer, purge related posts

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Social media giants banned a controversial influencer for ongoing violent and misogynistic rhetoric, removing online posts with his name.     

Key Players 

Andrew Tate, a former kickboxer-turned-multimillionaire, was a contestant on the British version of the reality TV show “Big Brother,” a program in which people live together in a house and are recorded 24 hours, seven days a week. 

Instagram and Facebook, social network platforms owned by ​​multinational tech conglomerate Meta, banned Tate in August 2022. Meta stated that Tate was being excluded for violating its community guidelines on dangerous individuals and organizations.

TikTok, a short-form video hosting service, banned Tate in August 2022 after he violated its policy that bars hateful behavior, The Washington Post reported.

Youtube, a video sharing social media platform, barred Tate and removed affiliated channels for his violation of community guidelines.

Twitch, a video livestreaming service, has not commented on banning Tate, but his account is listed as “closed by the user.” According to Dexerto, Tate appeared to have “opted to delete his Twitch channel.” 

Further Details 

In 2016, after only seven days of appearing on Big Brother, Tate was removed after footage surfaced of him hitting a woman with a belt, an act he claimed was consensual, The Tab reported. He then used his infamy to gain a large internet following, mainly young men, and appeared on some far-right programs, including some created by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. 

In October 2017, after #MeToo, a social movement that rose against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, Tate was banned from Twitter for allegedly stating that sexual assault victims “bear some responsibility” for their fate.

Following his reality TV stint, Tate created his own online content, offering life advice often criticized as misogynistic. In one video, with a nearby machete, Tate said that if a woman ever cheated on him, he would “bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her up by the neck. Shut up bitch,” The Guardian reported. 

In other videos, Tate appears to suggest that women “belong” to men and should “stay at home,” and that he would rather date 18- or 19-year-old women because they have had fewer relationships with men, NBC News reported. 

In July 2022, when asked about his comments referring to women as property, Tate told Barstool Sports that he was “not saying they’re property,” but that “they are given to the man and belong to the man.” 

Outcome

Social media companies purge Tate

Eventually, more social media companies hit Tate with bans, citing hate speech violations. On Aug. 19, Meta removed Tate’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, The New York Times reported. 

“In an effort to prevent and disrupt real-world harm, we do not allow organizations or individuals that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence to have a presence on Facebook,” Meta’s dangerous individuals and organizations policy states.

Prior to his bans, Tate had gained 4.7 million followers on Instagram and over 760,000 Youtube subscribers. The hashtag #AndrewTate on TikTok has reached 14.1 billion views, ABC News reported. 

Affiliate marketing program for Tate’s online academy shuts down

Tate had also promoted a $49.99 per month subscription fee for Hustler’s University, an online program that Tate claimed would help people earn more money. It encouraged users to repost videos featuring Tate, leading to thousands of recordings of him to spread across social media, fueling his online presence, The Guardian reported. Such videos included his comments about hitting women with a machete, that women were property, and that sexual assault victims bore responsibility.

On Aug. 20, Hustler’s University shutdown its affiliate marketing program, following Tate’s ban from Meta platforms, saying it had “no future,” Dexerto reported.