As impressionable teenagers scroll through TikTok, they come across a video of a man discussing the power he possesses over women. He proudly discusses the horrible things he’s done to women and degrades their existence. In his comments, he’s being praised and these teenagers notice his influence on the younger audience. Videos of him spread worldwide, despite his sexist comments undoing years of feminist progress. His name is Emory Andrew Tate III.

Tate is a former kickboxer who has recently gained popularity in the media for his “alpha male” mentality that many people seem to agree with, specifically the male audience. Because of the rise in feminism over the past couple years, a lot of his male audience have voiced their concerns about “losing manliness and power”. Tate completely disregards women and because of his words, many refer to him as the face of masculinity. However, because of his large audience and ideals of toxic masculinity, there has been backlash against Tate.

Despite not owning a TikTok account, Tate was popularized on the app as a result of its large user base and controversy prioritizing algorithm. Because of this, TikTok was the first company to begin banning videos including Tate. Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube quickly followed.

As imagined, his fanbase is not taking this lightly. Even people who aren’t particularly a fan of Tate’s messaging had opinions on the subject. “I’m not saying it was a good or bad thing,” said junior Edward Asiryan. “I’m saying companies shouldn’t have the authority to choose what’s good or bad.” 

Regardless, there are a lot of positive views on the matter as well. “He makes things up for views and then gullible people believe it,” Junior Mariam Hakobyan said. “I think taking away his platform takes away his fake persona, which people seem to buy into.” 

Adults seem to agree with the decision as well. When news about his banning was spread, a lot of parents were grateful their young and impressionable children were going to be steered away from his bad influence. Such videos with negative comments about women were affecting young female viewers’ confidence and messing with male viewers’ idea of right and wrong.

Though there are many others like him, Andrew Tate made a large name for himself. His popularity was so big and fast, everyone was talking about him.

Andrew Tate and his toxic social media presence made sexism trend again. With these large corporations’ decisions, hopefully female slander will not come with such ease. Time will tell whether the ban of Tate was the right next step.