Andrew Tate’s online course, Hustler’s University 3.0, generates over $8 million per month. Right after its conception, the course functioned as a pyramid scheme; anyone who referred a new member was paid. This led to people making edits of Tate’s content and advertising his course.
photo provided by Hustler’s University 3.0
Andrew Tate, a viral former kickboxer, was banned on Aug. 19 from nearly every mainstream online service and social media site, from TikTok to Instagram. Although bans from services like Uber and Airbnb are signs of overreach, his extremely sexist remarks should be strictly removed from every platform they reach.
Tate has said on Twitch that any woman he was in a relationship with was his property. He has also shown a disgustingly demeaning attitude toward women in many of his other public conversations, saying that men should be able to have multiple partners and that he would never trust a female driver with any of his cars.
Those in charge of social media websites have a duty to ensure that false, inappropriate, bigoted and sexist content is removed, as reflected in their terms of service. Much of what Tate says violates these policies. Although one’s own discretion must be applied when determining what is an unpopular opinion and what is sexist, Tate’s opinions are certainly far over the line, regardless of whether or not others have vocalized equally egregious beliefs.
After Twitter banned him in 2017 and Meta removed him from Facebook and Instagram in August, Tate decided to delete his own Twitch account, likely to be able to appear in other people’s streams without breaking Twitch’s terms of service. Tate also claimed to have been banned from using Airbnb and Uber, which appears to be a sign of overreach from both of those companies. At what point can someone be banned from using a service because of something they said on another platform?
In a hour and a half long video discussing his ban, Tate claimed that many clips of his conversations were put online without context to make him appear in a negative light, yet he did not properly address many of the claims set against him. Even though his beliefs of women being property were criticized by others while streaming, he has not apologized.
Notably, Tate plays a character on camera. Though it does not excuse his remarks or behavior in the slightest, it should be kept in mind that everything he does is a part of a persona used to gain popularity. Part of his purpose with using social media to begin with was to promote his online course, Hustler’s University, which makes many millions a year from teaching business, crypto, and similar modern money-making techniques.
Tate has said that he was trying to preach mental toughness, particularly to men who were depressed, lonely or weak. In many ways, he acted as a much needed antithesis to a select group which seeks to antagonize men, yet his remarks about women and pungently horrid persona did nothing good for the world, except for possibly harming future generations of boys and girls.