Shocking exposé of the disturbing dark world of influencer Tate's 'manosphere'

A minor kickboxer and failed reality TV star rose to become one of the world's most controversial figures, warping the minds of countless young men with his sexist ideology. But in a new book, two undercover investigators who penetrated Andrew Tate's inner circle discovered the truth is darker still.

- JOHN SIDDLE

HIS ABHORRENT sexist ideology advocates male supremacy and celebrates violence against females - yet it has generated millions of pounds.

Andrew Tate, 37, has argued women should take some responsibility for their sexual assaults, and once claimed the world would be a better place if women had their number of sexual partners tattooed on their heads.

Fuelled by the power of social media algorithms, Tate's views have been amplified to legions of vulnerable males who have paid thousands to be taught his methods of attracting, and controlling, women.

But filmmakers Matt Shea and Jamie Tahsin have uncovered allegations of rape, sexual violence, grooming and links to organised crime that now threaten to bring down this figurehead of toxic masculinity.

Clown World: Four Years Inside Andrew Tate's Manosphere details his huge influence, manipulative tactics and elite global network training men to groom women into online sex work.

"We first became aware of Tate in 2019 when one of our friend's nephews had become radicalised by the manosphere via Tate," Shea told this newspaper.

"The manosphere is essentially a shared belief by different online groups that the world is being manipulated to make life easier for women, at the expense of men.

"We had a quick look at who Tate was and his Tik Tok videos and noticed that what young people were looking at was more extreme than anyone really had realised. We began to investigate him as a kind of viral misogynist potentially causing social harm by spreading his extremist views to boys and young men.

"That progressed to investigating his online course subscription model, which we uncovered to be basically a pyramid scheme in which he financially incentivised people to share extreme content of him in order to sell his courses.

"He had basically manipulated thousands of young people into doing this, making him famous and rich overnight."