Andrew Tate’s second arrest fails to hinder his influence

‘Authorities have identified six victims. It is believed they were recruited by the British citizens, who misrepresented their intention to enter into a marriage/cohabitation relationship and the existence of genuine feelings of love.’

As legal troubles keep piling up on Tate, however, the poster child for the manosphere – an umbrella term referring to an interconnected network of websites, blogs, and digital communities where groups of men fight against progressive ideas like gender equality – might finally be facing his demise.

On Monday night, Tate and his brother Tristan were detained in Romania and handed an arrest warrant issued by UK authorities over allegations of ‘sexual aggression’ in a case dating back to 2012-2015.

The latest blow to the ‘influencer’ (who currently has 8.9 million followers on X) will likely see him put behind bars, but will do little to undo the damage he has already caused and could actually make matters worse, encouraging other ‘red pill’ influencers to try rising to the same level of mainstream popularity.

As explained by Cécile Simmons, research manager at the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), ‘the worldviews that seduce these men are unfortunately not going away with him.’

She cites a 2022 report which found that his ‘fans were still sharing his content and reposting his stuff long-after he was deplatformed and arrested.

‘The manosphere has been active for a long time online, though there’s been more awareness of them since 2016, when Donald Trump was elected,’ says Simmons.

‘Everyone is so focused on Andrew Tate because he was so big for a while, but while we look at him we forget that there are loads of other people out there with big platforms who are peddling quite problematic ideas.’

‘I think there’s a lot of resentment among young men, and I think that there are other influencers who now are trying to tap into that same discontent that Tate used. Other people are ready to weaponise those feelings. And we need to find solutions to address this.’