Short answer: Andrew Tate is an online influencer whose short videos about money, fast cars, the gym and being a “real man” reach children on TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram, often before they are 13. Many of those clips teach boys that women are worth less than men and should do as they are told. Banning his name rarely works. A calm, curious conversation at home and in class does far more.
In short:
- Most children never search for him. Fan accounts repost his clips, and the apps put them in front of boys who watched something about football, money or the gym.
- The clips sell success first. The ideas about women come packaged inside the success.
- Schools see it in the classroom: girls talked over, mocked and rated, and boys repeating phrases word for word.
Who is Andrew Tate, and why do children know his name?
Andrew Tate is a former kickboxer who built a huge following online by talking about money, cars, fitness and what he thinks men and women should be. Several big platforms removed his own accounts in 2022. His clips stayed, because fan accounts keep reposting them, cut into short videos with music and captions.
He also faces serious criminal charges in the UK and in Romania, and he denies them all. Those UK cases are still going through the courts, so this post says nothing about them. The Crown Prosecution Service sets out the UK position in its own statement.
What matters for a parent or a teacher is simpler. Children know the name because the apps keep showing them the clips.
Internet Matters surveyed over 2,000 parents and 1,000 children aged 9 to 16 in 2023. It found that three in four children aged 15 to 16 knew who he was, and almost a quarter of boys that age felt positive about him.
How do children end up watching Andrew Tate videos?
Almost never on purpose, at first.
A twelve-year-old watches a few videos about the gym, or a footballer’s cars, or how to make money young. The app notices what holds his attention and sends him more of it. Somewhere in that stream a clip appears: a confident man in a fast car, telling him how to get rich and never be weak. He watches it to the end. The app takes that as a yes.
Within a week his feed has changed. He has not followed anyone or searched for anything. He kept watching, and that was enough.
| Where children see it | How it reaches them |
|---|---|
| TikTok and YouTube Shorts | Short clips from fan accounts, chosen by the app after gym, money or football videos |
| Instagram Reels | The same clips with motivational music and captions over the top |
| Group chats | A friend drops a clip in as a joke, and everyone watches it |
| Gaming chat and Discord | Older players repeat the phrases out loud while they play |
| The playground | Boys who have never watched a clip pick up the lines from boys who have |
That last row matters. A child with no phone at all can still come home quoting him.
What do boys actually pick up from the clips?
Two things arrive together, and children rarely separate them.
The first part sounds appealing. Work hard. Get strong. Make money. Do not let anyone push you around. A boy who feels small, lonely or skint hears someone who seems to have the answers.
The second part comes wrapped inside the first. Women belong to men. A girlfriend should ask permission. Showing feelings makes a man weak. Women who have had boyfriends before are worth less.
A boy who likes the first part often swallows the second without noticing he has done it.
Here is how it tends to come out at home, and what is usually going on underneath.
| What he says | What may sit behind it | A calm reply to try |
|---|---|---|
| “Women should do what men say” | He is testing the line to see what happens | “Where did you hear that? What do you think of it?” |
| “Crying is for girls” | He wants to look tough in front of friends | “I have seen strong men cry. What makes you say that?” |
| “He’s rich, so he must be right” | He wants money and freedom, which is fair | “Lots of people are rich. What do you actually want to have?” |
| “Everyone at school watches him” | He needs to fit in | “What do your friends like about him? What do you like?” |
| “It’s just a joke” | He can tell you disapprove and wants to back off | “Okay. Would you say it in front of your sister?” |
None of these replies agrees with him. All of them keep him talking, and that is the whole point.
How should a parent talk about Andrew Tate?
Start by asking, not telling. “What have you seen of him?” works far better than “He is a terrible man and you are not to watch him.” The second version ends the conversation and makes the clips more exciting.
Watch one clip together, if he is willing. Ask him what the man is selling. Ask who makes money if he keeps watching. Children enjoy spotting a sales trick once someone shows them how.
Take the good part seriously. If he wants to be strong, confident and well off, say that is a good thing to want. Then show him men in his own life who have those things and treat women well. A grandad, a coach, an uncle. He needs a better example, and lecturing him about the bad one will not supply it.
Say plainly where you stand on the rest. “In this house, nobody tells anyone else what to wear or who to see.” Short, calm and repeated.
Reset the feed. On TikTok and Instagram Reels, press and hold on a clip, or tap the three dots, and choose “Not interested”. Doing that a few times, and watching other things for a few days, changes what the app sends. Our guide to parental controls on iPhone shows how to set limits as well.
Keep talking. One conversation does not undo months of clips. Ten short ones over a term usually do more than any single big talk.
What can schools do about Andrew Tate?
Teachers usually see it before parents do. A Year 8 girl gives an answer and three boys laugh and tell her to go and make a sandwich. Girls get rated out of ten in a group chat. A boy refuses to work with a female supply teacher. Some girls stop putting their hands up altogether.
Banning his name in class tends to make him more interesting. These steps tend to work better.
| What to do | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| Let pupils say what they like about him first | Boys who feel heard are more willing to question the rest |
| Separate the money and gym advice from what he says about women | It shows pupils they can want success without the rest of the package |
| Teach how the apps choose what to show them | Pupils who understand the feed trust it less |
| Act on every remark aimed at a girl, even small ones | Girls learn quickly whether anyone will back them up |
| Tell parents what you are seeing | Many parents have no idea until the school mentions it |
| Start before secondary school | Internet Matters suggests these conversations should start before secondary school |
Girls need something too. Tell them plainly that the remarks are not okay, that staff will act, and who to tell. Many girls stay quiet because they assume nobody will do anything.
How Kids n Clicks can help
Our training programmes cover this properly: how clips from Andrew Tate and similar influencers reach children through the apps, what boys repeat at home and in class, how to talk about it without starting a row, and how the same ideas show up between colleagues at work.
The session teaches the technology, not parenting theory. Parents already love their children. What often goes missing is a clear read of what is actually happening on the phones, the apps and the accounts, and that is the gap this session fills. It is a specialist session, delivered online or in person, to a whole workforce or to a parents’ network.
If you lead people, wellbeing or inclusion in your organisation, connect with Parven on LinkedIn or explore our training programmes to book a session for your team.
Parven Kaur is a digital parenting and online safety expert, and the founder of Kids n Clicks. She works with employers to support working parents and carers on the technology side of family life. She won the Scottish Cyber Security Award, and she sits on the National Board of Advisors for Barnardo’s Scotland.
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