Somehow an egomaniac in sunglasses has taken over everyones FYPs, but it’s not exactly a coincidence he seems to be everywhere. Andrew Tate is on a mission for world domination…but he may have just given us the key to stopping him in his conquest.
Who is Andrew Tate?
Though it may seem Andrew Tate popped up out of nowhere in recent months, he has been lurking in the shadows for a very long time. Through his 20s, Andrew worked as a TV producer while training as a kick boxer at the local gym, going on to fight professionally and win world titles.
In 2016, the controversial personality was cast on Big Brother UK, but was quickly ejected from the house after a video surfaced of him hitting a woman with a belt. A second video emerged shortly afterward, in which Andrew is shown telling a woman to count the bruises he apparently caused to her. Both Andrew and the women denied any abuse occurred, saying it was consensual.
More controversy followed the year after. In 2017, Andrew was criticised by mental health charities for saying depression “isn’t real” — but was “still necessary for capitalism to succeed”… whatever that means. That same year, Andrew made comments about the #MeToo movement, saying women should “bear some responsibility” for being raped, a view that led him to get barred from Twitter.
He has since created other accounts following his multiple bans from the site.
The controversy actually helped Andrew’s career within the Alpha Male podcast world, landing him on other conspiracy podcast like InfoWars with Alex Jones.
He has also been investigated by the UK police for allegedly abusing a woman, which Andrew has denied. In this case, the budding viral star had his house raided, devices confiscated and was held in a cell for two days. Around the time of the investigation, Andrew moved to Romania. He explained his move was essentially to help evade rape charges. This is “probably 40% of the reason” he moved there, he says in one video, adding: “I’m not a rapist, but I like the idea of just being able to do what I want. I like being free.”
More allegations would soon follow. Early this year, Andrew and his brother Tristan were investigated by Romanian authorities for human trafficking and further rape allegations after a tip-off from the US embassy that a 21-year-old American woman was being held against her will on the Tate compound. The investigation is still ongoing.
Despite the multiple investigations into Andrew, he’s found astronomical success on social media in 2022. Since the start of this year, Andrew’s podcast clips, from both his own and guest appearances, have taken over TikTok. In August so far, clips tagged with his name have been watched more than one billion times.
Internet users want to de-platform Andrew Tate
Due to his general douchebaggery and toxic personality, it’s no surprise there are calls from domestic and sexual violence experts and advocacy groups to remove Andrew from TikTok, amid fears his “misogynistic” comments could be “normalising violence” against women and are capable of radicalising men and boys to commit harm offline.
“Sexist and derogatory comments exist (which Andrew’s videos encourage) on the same spectrum as controlling behaviour and physical and sexual violence, which creates environments where men go on to murder women,” a spokeswoman for White Ribbon UK, which looks to end male violence against women, told the Daily Mail.
The issue, however, is more complex than Andrew’s multiple podcasts (many of which he launched only this year), as he doesn’t even have his own TikTok account. The accounts posting his clips to social media are run by his followers — members of Andrew’s very own Hustler’s University. Members, including 13-year-old boys, are told they can earn up to £10,000 a month through lessons on crypto investing, drop shipping, and by recruiting others to Hustler’s University, earning 48% commission for each person they refer.
Can we stop Andrew Tate?
While it may seem hopeless to try stopping Andrew’s social media domination, Andrew recently opened up about how he become so powerful.
In Wednesday’s episode of Jet Talk with Andrew Tate, the podcaster addressed his rise to fame, noting that it’s his “haters” that have helped him take over the internet in recent months. “I am getting millions of dollars worth of advertising for free from my haters trying to explain why I’m a bad person,” he said. “A percentage of my haters are now part of my HU university.”
Where he slips up though, is when he says that his “one worry” is that “people who dislike me get intelligent enough to know that making videos about this guy is doing nothing but helping him.”
“The smartest thing that my haters can do is never mention me again, but they can’t fucking help it.” He explains he has “control” because when you emotionally affect people— haters or followers, you control them.
In one guide, Hustler’s University “students” are told that attracting “comments and controversy” is the key to success: “What you ideally want is a mix of 60-70% fans and 40-30% haters.” This is what Andrew calls “smart business.”
For now, Andrew says his business plan involves three steps toward world domination. “This is stage 1 of a 3-step plan,” he explains. “So I’m gonna be viral a little longer. Then step 2 begins. The conquest is continuing.”
By no longer giving Andrew the exposure he so clearly craves, we can collectively derail his “conquest” plan.
In a YouTube video by Dr. Todd Grande that analyses TikTok Alpha Males, Dr. Grande tells us that “[Andrew’s] videos illustrate that there are a number of young men in the world who hold an underlying hatred for women and general contempt for society.” He goes on to explain that Andrew activates their sense of entitlement, envy, and arrogance. He tells us that “it’s like he’s looking for narcissism and exploiting it for his own personal gain.”
As a result, identifying how your own narcissism feeds into this machine is central to stopping this man from growing his ‘power’.
Though it may seem a little counter-intuitive (since you are literally reading an article about him right now), take this as an indication of how we, as internet users, can collectively stop Andrew Tate from “accelerating his endless conquest for control.”