Andrew Tate’s been banned from social media. But his harmful content still reaches young men

Last month, controversial influencer Andrew Tate was banned on several social media platforms for violating their policies.

But nearly two weeks into these bans, platforms are still inundated with clips of Tate making derogatory comments about women — highlighting what some media experts suggest is part of a dangerous system whose algorithm can be manipulated to radicalize young men to adopt harmful views against women and the LGBTQ community. 

And as Tate’s case shows, banning controversial figures can actually make the problem worse.

Tate, a former kick-boxer, gained notoriety after appearing on the U.K. reality show Big Brother in 2016. He was removed from the show when a video of him appearing to assault a woman with a belt was made public. Tate has said the incident was consensual. 

Recently, he went viral for soundbites shared on platforms like TikTok. These clips feature Tate, often clad in sunglasses sans shirt, making offensive comments about women. One notable example includes clips of Tate saying that if a woman is dating a man she “belongs” to him. In another clip, Tate suggested women in relationships who have their own social media accounts are cheating. 

In a video posted to Vimeo on Aug. 23, Tate responded to the bans saying he’s been “unfairly vilified” and his comments were taken out of context.

Tate did not respond to a request from CBC News for comment. 

From harmless memes to full-blown misogyny

Content like Tate’s often starts in a way that seems relatively harmless, but then it slowly becomes more nefarious, says Joanna Schroeder, a writer whose work focuses on gender and media representation. 

For example, she says, young boys often visit sites like YouTube to search for videos related to Minecraft, a wildly popular video game. But the YouTube algorithm will often guess their age and gender — and Schroeder says it might then push harmful content at them. 

WATCH | Algorithms and their agenda: 

“There are people who want to target this demographic who start showing them content that becomes more and more racy.”

Schroeder says Tate’s appeal is, in part, because of how his views are framed. The idea that what he’s saying is an “unpopular opinion that nobody else will say out loud” might suggest to a young person that it has value, she…