Hate connects – online influencers know this well

The name Andrew Tate has been popping up recently, yet I hadn’t heard of him before December.

He had already become notorious at the end of the summer when social networks began to close their doors on him. The reason being his extreme posts. This was far from the most dramatic news of the summer, so it kind of escaped me.

In recent weeks, however, I stumble on him everywhere. He is constantly present in the media:

• because of the dispute with Greta Thunberg ;
• because he was arrested by the Romanian police on suspicion of human trafficking, rape, and organization of a criminal group;
• because his followers are convinced that he is the victim of a conspiracy;
• because the concerned parents of his fans appear in the media; or
• because experts warn of the possibility of the development of a new terrorism – this time misogyny.

In addition, questions are being raised by concerned parents, even in Slovenia, who notice that Tate is having a strong influence on their teenagers.

These questions are arising, among other things, because of his visit to Slovenia last year, where the boys could admire one of his prestigious cars in-person.

Who is Tate, how did he become so influential, and why is this influence so problematic?

He’s a rich man, a former kickboxer, and a reality show star who got kicked out when footage of him physically assaulting a woman surfaced.

He has been involved in many things, after all, he is currently sitting in Romanian custody, but I would especially highlight his Hustler University, a paid platform that offers users education about quick money and dating.

How are his messages spread?

The platform has a global impact on teenagers and young men. In addition, until last summer, it allowed followers to earn commissions by recruiting new members.

With that, the footage went viral. In them he argued that women were men’s property; that rape victims have themselves to blame for being raped. He also talked about beating and strangling women, destroying their belongings, and keeping them behind closed doors.

In one, for example, he explained how he would deal with a woman who accused him of cheating, “A blow with a machete, a boom in the face, and you grab her by the neck. Shut up bitch!”

In an interview with a like-minded person on YouTube, he said he was “a total misogynist,” adding, “I’m a realist, and when you’re a realist, you’re a sexist. There’s no way you can be rooted in reality and not be sexist.”

In the same video, he described women as “lazy by nature” and said that “independent women do not exist.”

How does he gain followers?

Followers have been encouraged to systematically spread the teacher’s message – to do this they had clear instructions. For example, one was that encouraging »comments and controversy« was the key to success on TikTok.

He added, “Ideally, you want a mix of 60-70% fans and 40-30% haters. You want fights, you want war.”

At the end of August, the provider through which payments were made for acquiring new platform members blocked this business. He estimated that this is undoubtedly a classic pyramid scheme, in which funds flow from the bottom of the pyramid to the top. But the genie was already out of the bottle before that.

Why is Tate, with his hatred of women, so attractive to young men?

He likes to talk about his hard days and how he rose to fame and fortune. He likes to explain that this is achievable for everyone, but only with the right way of thinking. He offers a step-by-step plan on how to get rich, as well as how to use and get past those who hold you back along the way – women.

Above all, it offers them a real enemy and thus connects them to a global community of like-minded people. This is a community that draws in others – or as Slovenia’s well-known penologist Dragan Petrovec would say, “Hatred is the most unifying emotion, not love.”

How are social networks responding to it?

Last year Tate’s accounts were closed on all major social networks due to hateful statements. Until recently, he was also blocked on Twitter. When Twitter transferred ownership, (as expected) his account was reactivated. When media reached out to Twitter following his arrest, it did not respond to requests for comment.

Tate is currently in custody. But even if he is convicted, this will not diminish his influence on insecure young men.

Tate offers them clear answers to their questions about how to navigate their way in this changing world and who to look up to. Above all, it offers them a very simple answer to the eternal question, »Who is to blame for all my problems?«

Even our own teenagers are looking for quick and easy answers. Once they find them online, we may have a hard time convincing them they are wrong.

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The original version of this article was published on January 14^th.