Andrew Tate’s Twitter account is used to protest his innocence following his human trafficking arrest | world News

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Andrew Tate’s Twitter account was used to protest the influencer’s innocence after he was arrested on suspicion of human trafficking.

The Tate account, which has more than four million followers, tweeted on Saturday: “God is on our side, so the Matrix won’t win.”

It comes after the controversial ‘self-help’ social media influencer, who describes himself as the ‘King of Toxic Manhood’, was arrested in Romania along with his brother Tristan on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized criminal group.

Two other suspects, two Romanians, were also detained.

On Friday, Romania’s anti-organized crime agency confirmed that the four would be held for 30 days after a judge extended their initial detention period to allow them to investigate.

Despite Tate’s arrest, his Twitter account remained active, including posting several tweets referencing “The Matrix”.

Image: Andrew Tate’s Twitter account posted a tweet after he was detained in Romania

The 1999 science fiction film sees humans resist agents within a simulated reality that is used to trap people and consume their energy.

At the end of the first film, the protagonist is given a choice between a red pill, which will awaken him from The Matrix, and a blue pill, which will leave him in the dark of its existence.

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0:24 Tate quotes the Matrix during the arrest

In recent years, the film has been embraced by “self-help” conspiracy theorists and influencers, like Tate, to encourage their followers to try to break free from society’s shackles—the so-called “red pill” option.

Read more Romanian court sentences Andrew Tate to 30 days in detention

The concept of the red pill has also been embraced by fringe Internet communities, such as followers of the Involuntary Bachelor (Incel) group, who believe men are being “subjugated” by feminism.

But Tate’s reference to The Matrix appears to have been mocked by Twitter owner Elon Musk, who shared a tweet of his own referring to the movie.

Sharing a picture with the face of the film’s protagonist, Neo, and a quote, Musk on Twitter: “What if I told you the only way to escape The Matrix is ​​to unlearn everything you’ve learned and rebuild your entire belief system based on critical thinking and analysis.”

Besides his reference to The Matrix, Tate, a former kickboxer and contestant on the British reality show Big Brother, ended his most recent tweet with the phrase “Inshallah” — an Arabic expression meaning “God willing.”

Tate, who was born in the United States to an African American father and an English mother but has spent most of his young life in Luton, said last year that he had converted to Islam.

Along with his own tweet, two hashtags are now being used on Twitter by Tate supporters to protest his innocence, one “Tateisinnocent” and the other “FreeTopG”.

Tate has previously shared videos claiming he will be arrested in an effort by the authorities to “silence” him.

In one of the videos, shared under the hashtags, a teenage boy is seen protesting Tate’s innocence and saying he has taken an oath in solidarity with the controversial influencer.

Photo: ‘Free Top G’ hashtag shared on Twitter, commonly used in support of Andrew Tate following his arrest

Tate, who boasts on social media of his extravagant lifestyle and is often accused of misogyny for his views on women, has a strong fan base among teenage boys, which has raised concerns about his influence.

Tate was banned from Facebook and Instagram in August for violating parent company Meta’s policies on “dangerous individuals”. He had 4.7 million followers on Instagram before deleting his official account.

He was banned days later by YouTube for breaking hate speech rules — but fan channels filled in the gaps, posting videos that racked up millions of views.

Image: Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate with police in Bucharest

TikTok has banned him from having an account but content posted under the Andrew Tate hashtag has been viewed billions of times.

In November, an analysis by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) identified more than 100 TikTok accounts that frequently promote Tate content, with a total of 250 million video views and 5.7 million followers.

Twitter also banned him in 2017 due to his misogynistic views and hate speech, but he restored his account at the end of last year after Musk seized power.

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