Who is kickboxer-turned-influencer Andrew Tate & why he is so controversial

Andrew Tate, a divisive social media personality and former professional kickboxer, was detained in Romania on charges of human trafficking and rape on Friday and was detained by the Romanian court for 30 days. Tate was arrested in Romania along with brother Tristan on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group, prosecutors have said.

According to The New York Post, Tate and his brother were arrested for holding young women hostage in their villa. The victims were reported to be forced to perform pornographic demonstrations and were “sexually exploited”. This was not the first time the brothers had a run-in with the authorities over similar charges. The two brothers were questioned by the authorities in April this year and were released 5 hours after the interrogation. 

Andrew Tate has been established as an influencer surrounded by controversial remarks with accusations calling him misogynistic and a rapist among other things. Tate has suggested that rape victims "bear some responsibility" for being attacked, said women "belong in the home" and referred to women as "property" of men. Describing how he would react if a woman accused him of cheating, he said: "It's bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck."

In a video explaining why he moved to Romania, he said "probably 40% of the reason" he moved was because it would be easier to evade rape charges. He added: "I'm not a rapist, but I like the idea of just being able to do what I want. I like being free." Tate has also said he would rather date 18-year-olds than 25-year-olds because he can "make an imprint" on teenagers who have had fewer sexual partners. In a 2017 tweet, he said: "Depression isn't real. You feel sad, you move on. You will always be depressed if your life is depressing. Change it." Tate has denied holding misogynistic views and accused his critics of "twisting facts", although he has also described himself as the "king of toxic masculinity".

Tate gets schooled by 19-year-old Greta Thunberg

Earlier in the week, Tate sparked a row with climate campaigner Greta Thunberg on Twitter when he shared a picture of himself standing next to a Bugatti and saying he owned 33 cars. "Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions," he tweeted, tagging Thunberg.

Thunberg responded by saying: "Yes, please do enlighten me", adding a fake email address mocking him and ending with the words "getalife.com". Tate hit back with a video telling Thunberg to "get a life". In the video he is smoking a cigar in a robe and is passed a stack of pizza boxes.

Tate gets banned from Social Media

Tate was banned from Facebook and Instagram in August for violating parent company Meta’s policies on "dangerous individuals". He had 4.7 million Instagram followers before his official account was deleted. He was banned days later from YouTube for breaching hate speech rules - but fan channels have filled in the gaps, posting videos that reach millions of views.

TikTok has barred him from having an account but content posted under the hashtag Andrew Tate has been viewed billions of times. In November, analysis by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) identified more than 100 TikTok accounts that frequently promote Tate's content, with a total of 250 million video views and 5.7 million followers, reported Sky news.

Twitter also banned him in 2017 for his misogynistic views and hate speech but reinstated his account last month following Elon Musk’s takeover.