Pakistan probably has an Andrew Tate problem....
COVER STORY
Pakistan probably has an Andrew Tate problem.
So, who is Andrew Tate, and what does he have to do with Pakistan?
Andrew Tate is an American-British social media personality, businessperson, and former kickboxing champion. He was well-known among kickboxing fans but gained Internet fame when he became a social media influencer for all the wrong reasons.
Tate excelled at creating controversial content online and always angered people by creating or adding to controversies, for which he was expelled from several social media platforms. But that didn’t stop him, as he was gaining popularity and followers.
According to some estimates, Tate has over nine million followers on X (formerly known as Twitter). This means that many of his followers agree with the content he puts out which in itself is quite upsetting.
According to the BBC, “Andrew Tate is a self-described misogynist and was previously banned from social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views.”
BBC reported Tate as saying, “I’m a realist and when you’re a realist, you’re sexist. There’s no way you can be rooted in reality and not be sexist.” And that women are “intrinsically lazy”, adding there was “no such thing as an independent female.“
However, Tate wasn’t worried and was busy riding on his fame, engaging with like-minded people, giving him space to hold vitriolic discussions. He seemed to enjoy hurting the sentiments of large chunks of society on and offline. He was enjoying his newfound status as a powerful social media personality, able to form opinions and sway how people think in any way he wanted.
Tate became viral when he used his social media influence to rile up people, especially women and feminists. He created misogynist content, which got a lot of reaction and seemed to ring an inner cord with millions, primarily young men, and boys, on social media.
As his viewership increased, he only seemed to become more empowered. By creating viral content based on hate and toxic masculinity, he contributed to expanding and enforcing the ‘manosphere’ online.
According to the Cambridge dictionary, the manosphere refers to “websites and Internet discussion groups that are concerned with men’s interests and rights as opposed to women’s, often connected with opposition to feminism or dislike of women. Some parts of the manosphere have been described as promoting a misogynistic worldview.”
Tate was somewhere at the top of the manosphere. The false safety that online platforms provided probably made Tate feel like he could take his toxicity and misogyny into the real world without any consequences. He was so wrong.
The real world is still governed by laws that lead to consequences. And soon, Tate found out he could not get away with inciting and creating negative, toxic, and misogynist content as he was used to in his virtual world. There were consequences in the real world.
In 2020, Tate was arrested in Romania on charges of rape, human trafficking, and forming an organised crime group to exploit women. He was out within two years – released in July 2024 – but his freedom came with restrictions which specified that he could leave Romania but could not leave the EU.
Unfortunately, the ‘Tate phenomenon’ is spreading toxic masculinity and misogyny in other regions across the world. The virtual world has no borders, so it is hard to contain good or bad influences; the entire Internet-using world is literally connected and has easy access to trends and influences across the planet.
Therefore, it is not surprising that other countries have their own Tates. Pakistan, too, has its versions of Tates, who often use online platforms to spread hate, negativity, toxic masculinity, and misogyny. They have a large audience, usually younger men and impressionable boys.
Recently, two of the most vocal ones are undoubtedly a dramatist known for gender controversies and a new face trying to make it big as a social media influencer turned moralist preacher.
Both men have recently been caught in another controversy while engaging with women on a talk show on a local channel. According to a video of the show, the latter is seen going ballistic while replying to a question from a woman in the audience. This exchange was followed by an outburst from different sides who condemned the incident. On the other hand, there were reports that the discussion was scripted or planned to increase the show’s ratings.
If this is true, it is interesting to see how venomous mansplaining and misogyny are highlighted and spread by some media to increase viewership. As the content becomes viral, the hate content does not only add to the toxicity online but also permeates offline and affects real people.
Unfortunately, this is not the first, nor the last, time virtual misogyny has been allowed to go viral in Pakistan. There have been several incidents in the past; a notable one from 2020 involved the same dramatist. He already had a large following due to some of his plays becoming instant hits with the TV audience. However, he shot to fame and instantly became a household name after he used a misogynist phrase in his play that stirred controversy after civil society took it up. At the time, he seemed surprised when he was called out by human rights activists, journalists, lawyers, and scholars for being misogynistic. It didn’t seem to bother him that he was coming across as a chauvinist and misogynist. He seemed to be savouring the notoriety and he continued to justify his work as he saw nothing wrong with misogyny.
The debate became angrier as the dramatist appeared on different channels to defend the phrase, causing many intense arguments on TV and online. He didn’t refrain from using harsh and abusive language while defending dialogues he had penned. Netizens also joined the angry debate, condemning the use of derogatory words against the female character in the drama. This incident helped catapult him to immense fame and revealed how our society deals with serious and dangerous topics that resonate with some viewers, especially impressionable young men, and boys. This adds to a more significant social problem of normalizing gender-based violence, physical, psychological, and even virtual.
Spewing targeted hate is a form of tech-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). In this case, it is usually genders, especially women, who are already vulnerable in the real world, which makes them easy targets online. And it helps to stir emotions against these marginalised people in a society where chauvinism, mixed with a hefty dose of misogyny, is rampant and considered normal. This environment makes Tate-like people feel powerful as they are enabled by social norms to control the lives of others. They believe their moral compass controls how society should be moulded and run and how other genders should exist. Anyone deviating from this becomes the target and is exposed to all kinds of attacks, including online abuse, harassment, and violence.
The attacks are amplified as they become viral online, and things get caught in a vicious circle. If the violators are lucky, the online behaviour will be translated offline and become physical violence.
Social media has added another layer of protection to users, and it helps to share all content – real or fake – to a larger audience. This platform is the best place for self-proclaimed moralists to spread fake content in the name of traditional laws and religion, mansplaining things to everyone. They convince people that women or feminists are the enemies and ‘jahil’ and any person who dares speak against them needs to be attacked. In their minds, everyone must live according to what they think is the right way.
TFGBV is becoming a massive problem for users, especially women, who are generally the targets of gender-based violence. The Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (2017-18) estimates that “28 percent of women in Pakistan, between the age of 15 to 49” have been subjected to physical violence. So, it will not be surprising if the number of women targeted online is also high. According to the Institute of Development Studies, 16 percent to 58 percent of Internet users face online gender-based violence, primarily women.
Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) released the Cyber Harassment Helpline Report in 2023, which revealed that mobile broadband penetration in Pakistan now is at 53.6 percent, and “violence against women continues to extend into the online sphere, reflecting the prevailing patriarchal and misogynistic norms. With the advancement and increasing accessibility of technology, the forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence have also evolved.”
The DRF report also said that despite Pakistan facing excessive data breaches “it does not have a personal data protection bill to protect users’ data.”
Strong laws can protect people from these attacks. This is a weak spot in Pakistan’s judicial system, where existing laws do not provide the required relief due to many loopholes. Moreover, sometimes local customs, traditions, and social norms, developed by men over centuries to benefit men, overlap and even replace laws with binding decisions the complainants accept. This leaves a large section of society even more vulnerable.
There is a need to review and revise these laws so that they can defend the rights of vulnerable sections of society, like women, transgender people, the elderly, and children.
It is not too late to stop the Tates online.
