Andrew Tate: How the arrest of controversial influencer has impacted his Twitter following
Andrew Tate has gained more than six million followers in the five months since his Twitter account was reinstated.
His profile spiked in popularity after he was detained in Romania and when he was put under house arrest.
The controversial influencer had 38,400 followers when his profile was brought back to the platform in November. Now, Tate has more than 6.4 million followers.
The popularity of Tate’s profile may be bringing in serious income for Twitter, with researchers estimating the platform could earn almost £10m in advertising revenue a year from Tate-generated traffic.
He was banned from the platform towards the end of October 2017 after posting inflammatory tweets, including one now-deleted post that said: “Next point, if you put yourself in a position to be raped, you must bare some responsibility. I’m not saying it’s OK you got raped.”
A number of banned accounts have been reinstated by Twitter CEO Elon Musk. Tate was among those brought back on 18 November 2022.
The influencer marked his return by posting a photo of himself.
His account went from less than 40,000 followers to one million within 48 hours, archived screenshots of Tate’s account show.
Tate’s profile has continued to grow in popularity: a month on from his account being reinstated, his follow count had almost hit three million followers.
Andrew Tate had almost gained 3 million followers after a month back on Twitter. Pic: Twitter
Tate, a British-US citizen, was arrested on 29 December in Romania and faces allegations of sexual assault, exploitation, organised crime and human trafficking – all of which he denies.
Hundreds of thousands of users decided to follow Tate that day. His follower count rose from 3.4 million to 3.8 million in 24 hours. He hit four million followers by 31 December.
His popularity spiked again after he was taken out of prison and put under house arrest on 31 March. He gained half a million followers that day.
At the time of writing, Tate has 6.4 million followers, meaning that on average Tate has gained around 40,000 followers a day since 18 November.
The rate at which Tate has gained followers appears to be unusually high.
Jordan B Peterson is another controversial online figure who was suspended from Twitter but brought back by Mr Musk on the same day as Tate.
Dr Peterson’s follower list has grown from 3 million on 18 November to 4.1 million today. Pic: Twitter
He had three million followers when he was brought back and now has 4.1 million.
Another comparison can be made with climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was embroiled in a high-profile Twitter argument with Tate at the time of his arrest.
Ms Thunberg now has 5.8 million followers, compared to 5.1 million on 29 December. Pic: Twitter
Between 29 December and 5 December, Tate’s profile gained almost a million followers. Ms Thunberg gained 600,000 in the same time period. Today her follow count stands at 5.8 million, having been outstripped by Tate.
The follower account of some high-profile users are inflated by bots, which are automated profiles that can be either purchased to artificially boost a profile’s popularity or may be present without the person’s consent or knowledge.
Changes to some of Twitter’s technology under Mr Musk means that researchers are now unable to test for suspected bots on the same scale as before, meaning it is not possible to check Tate’s entire follower list for bots.
But free software from Norton, a cyber-protection company, enables users to see in real time whether a Twitter profile may be a bot, with users highlighted in red being suspect.
Sky News ran the BotSight software over the first 100 profiles that recently followed Tate as a small sample.
Around half appeared to be genuine accounts, a quarter were questionable and a quarter were suspicious. None are confirmed as bot accounts.
Tate’s popularity on Twitter may be bringing in significant money to the platform, according to the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).
The centre’s research, shared exclusively with Sky News, found that Twitter stands to make an estimated £9.8m a year in advertising revenue from Tate’s account alone, prompting researchers to argue this could be why controversial accounts have been allowed back on the platform.
Callum Hood, CCDH’s head of research, told Sky News: “Twitter has made a deliberate decision to reinstate Andrew Tate – and many other extremist accounts – for business reasons.
“Because it is the only mainstream platform where you can still find Andrew Tate’s personal account, it has now become a must-see attraction for his cult-like following.
“By simply offering him a platform, Twitter is giving him all the legitimacy and exposure he needs to attract an army of new followers.”
The CCDH found that Tate’s tweets generate an estimated average of 35 million “impressions” a day (how often a tweet is seen), based on more than a month’s worth of his postings.
They used this data, along with their research into how often adverts appear and how much Twitter adverts cost, to estimate Twitter’s potential Tate-related earnings.
Tate’s other social media accounts are not seeing the same level of popularity as his Twitter.
He is currently still banned from Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, although a recent Sky News investigation found his content was pushed to a “test” teenager’s account after a little more than an hour on YouTube Shorts.
The influencer still has two channels on Rumble, a free-speech video streaming platform. The more popular one has 1.16 million followers and has only gained 295,000 followers in the time Tate has been back on Twitter.
Andrew Tate’s main Rumble account is not as popular as his Twitter profile. Pic: Rumble
Social media expert Matt Navarra explained to Sky News why there is such a big difference in Tate’s follower count on the two social media platforms.
He said: “Platforms like Rumble and others have much, much smaller users bases and are considered to be alternative social platforms which are only of appeal to those with fringe interests. It’s kind of like a second home for those that have been banned everywhere else.
“It’s no surprise to me that you won’t have seen such an explosive growth there compared to somewhere like Twitter that’s got hundreds of millions of users and is considered by most the mainstream, broad-appeal and broad-interest social platform.”
Sky News attempted to contact Twitter’s press office in relation to this article. The company did not reply, only sending an automatic email containing a poo emoji in response, which is the current default reply to all messages to the press office.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
World
South Korean authorities attempt to arrest President Yoon for second time – standoff with security service under way
A new attempt to arrest South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is under way, six weeks after his short-lived attempt to impose martial law.
A standoff is in place outside Mr Yoon’s official residence between authorities and the president’s security service.
A previous attempt by law enforcement to arrest the impeached president failed earlier this month.
Mr Yoon’s presidential security service prevented dozens of investigators from arresting him after a standoff which lasted nearly six hours on 3 January.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police responded by pledging more forceful measures to detain Mr Yoon while they jointly investigate whether his martial law declaration on 3 December amounted to an attempted rebellion.
The National Police Agency convened multiple meetings of field commanders in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province in recent days to plan their detainment efforts, and the size of those forces fuelled speculation that more than 1,000 officers could be deployed in a possible multi-day operation.
Police officers stand in front of the gate of the presidential residence in the early hours of Wednesday 15 January local time. Pic: AP
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From 3 January: South Korea protesters clash with police
Anti-corruption agency and police officials met representatives of the presidential security service on Tuesday morning for unspecified discussions regarding efforts to execute the detention warrant for Mr Yoon.
It was not immediately clear at the time if any kind of compromise was reached.
What happened on 3 December?
Mr Yoon declared martial law and deployed troops around the National Assembly at the beginning of last month.
It lasted only hours before politicians managed to get through the blockade and voted to lift the measure.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
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How six hours of martial law unfolded in South Korea
Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at the presidential residence in Seoul on the day he was impeached. Pic: AP
Mr Yoon has argued his declaration of martial law was a legitimate act of governance, calling it a warning to the main liberal opposition Democratic Party which he has described as “despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces”.
He claimed the party used its legislative majority to impeach top officials and undermine the government’s budget.
Over the past two weeks, thousands of anti-Yoon and pro-Yoon protesters have gathered daily in competing rallies near his office in Seoul, in anticipation of the second detention attempt.
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A Gaza deal is “on the brink”, President Joe Biden has said in his final foreign policy address.
The outgoing US leader said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve
peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Pic: Reuters
The US president also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” he said.
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Mr Biden was delivering his final foreign policy address before he leaves office next week.
Monday’s address will be the penultimate time he speaks to the country before the end of his presidency. He is due to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
US and Arab mediators made significant progress overnight toward brokering a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of scores of hostages held in the Gaza Strip – but a deal has not been reached yet, officials said.
A round of ceasefire talks will be held in Doha on Tuesday to finalise remaining details related to a ceasefire deal in Gaza – including over the release of up to 33 hostages – officials added.
Mr Biden went on to claim America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are
weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
World
IDF admits ‘serious offence’ after using vehicle marked ambulance in raid in which a grandmother was killed
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has admitted to a “serious offence” after a Sky News investigation analysed CCTV footage showing the moment an 80-year-old Palestinian grandmother was shot in the West Bank.
Halima Abu Leil was shot during a raid in Nablus. The grandmother died soon after.
During the course of the investigation, we noted that a blue vehicle marked as an ambulance and with a red light on its roof was used by IDF troops to enter the West Bank.
Our investigation stated: “Figures who appear to be Israeli military forces exit the ambulance in the foreground. They are equipped with helmets, backpacks, rifles, and other gear.”
The use of a marked medical vehicle for a security operation could be a contravention of the Geneva Convention and a war crime – as well as Halima’s killing.
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CCTV shows Palestinian grandmother shot in IDF raid
The IDF has subsequently told Sky News: “On December 19, 2024, soldiers from the ‘Duvdevan’ unit took part in an operational mission to detain terrorists in Nablus.
“During the operation, an ambulance-like vehicle was used for operational purposes, without authorisation and without the relevant commanders’ approval.”
It added: “The use of the ambulance-like vehicle during the operation was a serious offence, exceeding authority, and a violation of existing orders and procedures.”
It also said the commander of the ‘Duvdevan’ unit was “reprimanded”.
However, it gave no update into the death of Halima, saying “the circumstances of the incident are being examined”.
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The United Nations Special Rapporteur on occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese watched the CCTV video and told Sky News her death could be a “war crime”.
She said: “When I look at the footage, what emerges prima facie is that there were no precautions taken – within these operations whose legality is debatable – to avoid or spare civilian life.
“No principle of proportionality because there was wildfire directed at the identified target and ultimately no respect for the principle of distinction.
“So this was a murder in cold blood and could be a war crime as an extrajudicial killing.”
According to the United Nations Office Of Human Rights in occupied Palestinian territory, Israeli security forces and settlers have killed at least 813 mostly unarmed Palestinians, including 15 women and 177 children, since 7 October 2023.
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