Concern as report finds misogynist content remains widely accessible to young people
Andrew Tate’s promotion of hate and violence against women led to YouTube, TikTok, and Meta closing his channels in 2022. Picture: Vadim Ghirda/AP
Children and women’s networks have expressed alarm after new research shows that misogynist videos featuring Andrew Tate are easily accessible to boys as young as 13 across Europe, including in Ireland.
The Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) said it identified 100 of the most-viewed YouTube videos of Mr Tate promoting misogyny over the last year, attracting nearly 54m views.
Researchers set up accounts in the US, Britain, Germany, and Ireland, and found that 98 out of the 100 videos in Ireland and Germany were accessible to boys as young as 13 (all in Britain and US).
The report said Tate’s promotion of hate and violence against women, led to YouTube, TikTok, and Meta closing his channels in 2022.
“However, thanks to subscribers of his online course “The Real World”, Tate has retained his presence on the platform through fan-made content,” the report said.
ISPCC head of policy Fiona Jennings said: “While Andrew Tate has been banned from publishing new content to YouTube, we are aware previous content continues to be widely available. To learn from the CCDH’s research that this content is being served up to the accounts of 13-year-old boys is totally unacceptable.”
She said research by Professor Debbie Ging in DCU found that recommender algorithms in social media platforms are “rapidly amplifying toxic content”.
“When we look at profiled engagements such as ‘being forced to make or watch pornography’ or ‘being sexually harassed or exploited’, between 70-90% are from children identifying as female with an age profile from 10-16 years of age.”
National Women’s Council violence against women coordinator Ivanna Youtchak said: “It is very concerning to see the influence of traditionalist and misogynistic views in digital spaces on children and young people.”
She said figures such as Andrew Tate, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump promote views that men should dominate relationships, disregard women’s opinions, and treat them as objects.
“Given the formative nature of this age group, they are more susceptible to adopting or experimenting with these harmful views,” Ms Youtchak said.
“It is therefore all the more important that school curricula address online harms, promote gender equality, and support young people to think critically.
A spokesperson for YouTube said: “Andrew Tate’s channels were terminated in 2022. Since then, we’ve removed hundreds of thousands of videos and terminated thousands of channels that have attempted to circumvent that original decision.
"But as with all terminated users, not all content that features Andrew Tate will be removed. Only 11 videos from the CCDH report were shared with us to review — the majority have been removed for violating our Terms of Service, and we’ve terminated a number of the featured channels.”
