I let my son, 13, watch YouTube clips about his favourite video games – 30 minutes later I made a harrowing discovery
TOXIC Andrew Tate videos are pushed on kids within 30 minutes of logging on to YouTube — despite his ban from the platform.
Schools are fighting the influencer’s twisted views on women, yet his bile pops up after watching just a few unrelated clips online.
In an investigation that will strike fear into parents, our reporter’s 13-year-old son set up a YouTube account with no browsing history and began watching videos of his favourite games.
He followed this with a short film on horror author Stephen King, and review of Sky’s post-apocalyptic series The Last of Us.
Within 29 minutes YouTube recommended a clip of Tate on a bike ride in Croatia in which he boasts all you need to be happy is a “$75million yacht, 30 hot women, $100m+ in the bank.”
After clicking it, two more Tate shorts popped up.
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Further viewing led to one which claims Tate is in danger from the rich elite — then interviews in which he spouts his twisted views on women.
More clicks would have taken the 13-year-old deeper into Tate’s dangerous web.
The former kickboxer’s videos, often featuring luxury cars and beautiful girls, have attracted hundreds of millions of views and are constantly duplicated, replicated and uploaded.
The 13-year-old’s mum said: “Tate maintains a terrifying grip over impressionable lads. I can see why they may be drawn to Tate.
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“My son is a bright kid, all too quickly becoming a young man, with a wide and imaginative range of interests.
“He has got no big social media presence and we have enough trust in him to let him watch YouTube on his phone in his bedroom.
“The only alternative is to make him sit in the same room as us all day and, let’s be frank, that’s not appealing with a bored teen.”
In August US-born Tate, who grew up in Luton, was banned from YouTube, followed by TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.
He and brother Tristan were arrested at their Romanian home last month on suspicion of sex trafficking and organised crime.
Tate is alleged to have pressured women into joining his sex work webcam business, with some tattooing his name on their bodies.
His lawyer denies the allegations and says Tate’s online persona doesn’t reflect the real person.
YouTube has removed the most offensive Tate videos we found.