Social media influencer Andrew Tate banned from Facebook and Instagram 

Social media influencer Andrew Tate, who was also a former kickboxer and reality TV start, has been banned from both Facebook and Instagram for violation of their policies.

Meta confirmed that Tate’s official platforms have been removed and he will also be barred from creating any new ones. Tate had 4.7 million followers on Instagram before he was de-platformed.

Tate rose to fame after appearing on the UK reality TV show Big Brother.  Tate was removed from the show after a video surfaced of him beating a blonde lady with a belt. Tate however defended the video and said it was taken out of context.

Tate said the video was harmless fun and also said that “A longer version of the video shows us laughing and I’m hitting myself saying ‘it doesn’t hurt.’”

Tate went onto say at the time “I’m still friends with her and she’s in the UK with me now. I would never hit a woman. I think Big Brother is using this to get me out of the house as they’re scared for the other contestants’ safety.”

Tate talked about the ban on a Twitch stream with streamer Adin Ross, where he said he is unsure of the exact reason why he was barred from the platforms, and he trusts “due process.” 

“I’m not angry at them at any regard,” Tate said. “It’s not a big loss for me. It’s not something I use too often. But I do understand their position.” 

TikTok also said they will continue to remove any videos that are associated with Andrew Tate or that have a hashtag bearing his name.

“Misogyny is a hateful ideology that is not tolerated on TikTok,” a company spokesperson told CBS News in a statement. “Our investigation into this content is ongoing, as we continue to remove violative accounts and videos, and pursue measures to strengthen our enforcement, including our detection models, against this type of content.” 

Women’s charity Refuge praised Meta for the decision. “This is the kind of decisive action needed to tackle the online radicalisation of young men towards a violently misogynistic world view,” the company’s CEO, Ruth Davison, said.

Campaign group Hope Not Hate described Tate as a “threat to young men” and also praised Meta’s “swift” action.

“Tate encourages his followers to post his videos using their own accounts and link back to his website,” Imran Ahmed, the CEO of The Centre for Countering Digital Hate said. “Accounts are still pumping out clips of Tate as part of his Hustlers University pyramid scheme. YouTube is rife with videos doing this and have made Google up millions in ad revenue.”

“Meta should now go further and ensure that other people posting videos containing Mr Tate are sanctioned for breaching their community standards on hate, and ban the posting of links to his website, which contains material designed to radicalise young men,” Ahmed went onto say.