What would you think of someone who said: “I know how to administer CPR. However, I will not administer CPR unless you’re a hot female… If you’re some fat dude and you just had a heart attack and I don’t really know you, you’re gonna die.” 

Or this: “There are very few fat lonely men aged 60. With no money or family or hobbies. Who aren’t depressed–this is not a clinical disease. Most ‘depressed’ people are too lazy, it’s that simple ” 

And this: “I think that women belong to men.”

You would think anyone who heard these comments would write him off as absurd, right? Unfortunately this is not the case. The person behind these quotes, Andrew Tate, is insanely popular across multiple online platforms. He is a highly controversial social media influencer who was banned from a range of social media sites due to the misogynistic content he created. He has been surrounded by human trafficking, abuse and fraud allegations as well as disturbing podcast appearances—and yet his fanbase continues to grow.

Tate’s wild ideas have received widespread support from young adults age 14 to 21, who make up his main audience. His listeners are constantly exposed to content that repeatedly encourages abuse towards women, dismissal of mental illnesses and discriminatory content. Although the messages he spreads are a big problem, the most dangerous part is that listeners get the idea that these harmful beliefs are normal. It is terrifying how large his outreach, popularity and influence have gotten over his younger male audience.

The thing most of his supporters miss is that Tate may only be spreading his deranged ideas, not because he believes them, but to expand his reach and to profit off of it. He gives listeners who are unsatisfied with their life a marketable solution—hating women—and they fall for it. Not only that, he manipulates true concepts like happiness and gratefulness and spins them into vessels for hatred. 

“A bomb in Siria or a chemical attack in Yemen. There’s someone your age who’s just was given some bad f* news. This is why most of you f* don’t understand— you are not grateful for what you have,” said Tate. “If you were to sit there and explain your problem like ‘yeah I’m depressed’ and all your stupid reason why you don’t like your life they’ll switch in a heartbeat.”

The reality is that Tate is playing us all. He has a goal—a goal that he is reaching with our lack of thinking and countless interactions with his content.  He wants everyone to react, it does not matter if it is positive or negative as long as it increases his popularity. Tate is able to reach this because we give fuel to the fire. Even as his personal accounts had been taken down, he still appeared in other creators’ podcasts who tried to debate him. These people fell for his game as they provided him a platform to voice more harmful opinions. They provided him views and recognition to start and collect even more followers.

We don’t think about how our actions will affect his exposure. All the hate commentators, all the podcasts that make him a guest speaker, every single reaction video and reposter. We are bringing more views to his content, and because of that we have the responsibility to shut him down . We all need to do a better job of distinguishing between truth and absurdity, how to recognize someone’s true intentions, and when we should give attention to—or ignore— controversies and the people involved in them.

 Tate has recently posted a “final message” video where he explains that the social media ban had helped him become a better person and “get the reset he desperately needed.” It is hard to say if Tate truly will refrain from using social media and focus on charity work. Whether these allegations are true or not won’t take away the negative influence he has brought to his young listeners. The truth is that all was said and done, clips of his opinions have already been posted, reposted, saved—there’s no way to get rid of the content. That is how social media and the internet work. The question is what we, as viewers, will do with all these clips. Will we decide to discard them or keep interacting with them? And will we keep interacting with people who come after Tate, copycats or fans. 

 It is hard to ignore content that blatantly shames you or those around you, but we need to calmly assess what the best way to deal with these people is. Do not bring them attention, that is what they strive for. That does not mean, however, to silently listen when someone is talking or even joking about these controversial figures. A simple “ I don’t agree with __ views and rather not talk about him” will suffice. Just dismiss the topic and move on.  It is not worth giving time and audience to someone who would not repeat the argument in front of his own mother.