Is there a possibility of Andrew Tate returning to other social media platforms following Twitter unban?

Controversial kickboxer-turned-influencer Andrew Tate saw his official Twitter account, @cobratate, reinstated on November 18, 2022. His unban coincided with a policy change by the social media platform, described by new CEO Elon Musk as "freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach."

In a subsequent tweet, Musk announced some of the reinstated accounts by name, including comedian Kathy Griffin, media personality Jordan Peterson and conservative satire outlet the Babylon Bee. He also reinstated former U.S. President Donald Trump following a Twitter poll that 15 million people participated in.

Although Musk did not address Tate by name, it would appear he was reinstated under the same policy. More unbans are likely to follow, as followers voted in favor of offering general amnesty to suspended accounts, with exceptions made to those that used accounts for spam or illegal activity:

"The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei."

But what about other social media platforms? Could the platform's radical changes in the past few weeks be a sign of things to come for other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok? Could Andrew Tate be reinstated on other major platforms in the near future?

---

Andrew Tate is unlikely to be reinstated on other social media platforms

Andrew Tate's views began to spread online in 2022 due to an affiliate marketing strategy he employed through Hustlers University, a series of online courses that have been widely criticized as a pyramid scheme. He not only encouraged members to recruit new enrollees but also to spread clips of him espousing his views on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram.

Following his rise to mainstream prominence in July, many were outraged that Tate's views, widely considered to be misogynistic and problematic, were being amplified on popular social media platforms. This spawned a massive campaign to deplatform him, which was ultimately successful.

Meta-owned social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, as well as TikTok and YouTube, indefinitely banned Tate. However, he still has a presence on these platforms, as fan accounts continue to share his clips.

Noticeably absent from the list of platforms that banned Andrew Tate in August was Twitter. This is because he already had multiple accounts banned.

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that Tate was banned indefinitely from Twitter in 2017 following his opinions on the #MeToo movement. He claimed that victims of sexual harassment and assault were culpable in their abuse. He made another account in an attempt to evade his ban, but it was taken down in 2021 shortly after being verified, a move that Twitter claimed to have made in error.

Following a change in ownership, Twitter has seen a lot of turnovers as well as policy changes in November. Elon Musk, whose purchase of the platform was finalized towards the end of October, promised broad changes in terms of freedom of speech on the platform. On November 18, he reinstated numerous high-profile accounts, including that of Andrew Tate.

The reinstatement came alongside a new policy on Twitter, which allowed for hateful and negative tweets to remain on the platform but would be "max deboosted and demonetized." Musk promised that these types of tweets would not come across users' feeds unless they actively sought them out.

The change, as well as almost every other decision made since Musk assumed ownership of the platform, was widely criticized. However, the new Twitter CEO shared a graph on his profile, claiming that impressions on hateful tweets had been reduced by a third since the change.

If there is a chance that this policy is successful in curtailing hate speech on social media, it's possible that other platforms like Facebook and Instagram will follow suit.

However, unlike Musk's Twitter, adopting these changes would not necessarily mean that accounts previously banned for hate speech would be reinstated on other platforms. Throughout his bid to acquire Twitter, Musk made the ideological reasons behind his desire to purchase the platform widely known.

In recent times, Twitter seems to be an outlier when it comes to mainstream social media sites. Barring a Musk-esque figure coming along and purchasing other major platforms, Andrew Tate likely won't be reinstated elsewhere any time soon.