Influencer Andrew Tate banned for violating social media rules

INFLUENCER Andrew Tate has been banned from Facebook and Instagram for violating its policies, social media giant Meta has confirmed.

The parent company of the two platforms said it had removed Mr Tate’s official accounts for breaching its rules around dangerous organisations or individuals and that he was now banned from using either Facebook or Instagram.

Mr Tate rose to fame when he appeared on the reality TV show Big Brother in 2016. However, he was removed from the programme after a video surfaced online which appeared to show him attacking a woman with a belt – a clip he claimed had been edited.

He has since gained further notoriety online for a number of comments about women, including suggesting that they “bear some responsibility” for being assaulted – an incident for which he was banned from Twitter.

A number of campaign groups have criticised Mr Tate for his views and warned he was a danger to young men and boys who see his content online, urging the various platforms on which he is active to remove him.

Videos of and about Mr Tate have also become popular on both YouTube and TikTok and videos using a hashtag of his name have been viewed more than 13 billion times on TikTok alone. A TikTok spokesman said: “Misogyny is a hateful ideology that is not tolerated on TikTok. We’ve been removing violative videos and accounts for weeks, and we welcome that other platforms are also taking action.” against this individual.”

Ruth Davison, chief executive of women’s safety charity Refuge, said Meta had made the “right decision”.