00:00 In Bucharest, a court ruled Tuesday that Andrew Tate, the online influencer known for his misogynistic views and his brother, can be extradited to the UK to face charges of sex crimes.
00:12 But the court said it could only happen after their trial in Romania concludes.
00:16 For more on what this means for the man with millions of followers online, I'm joined by Annette Young, the host of France 24's women's show, The 51%.
00:24 So Annette, where do things stand now legally for Andrew Tate?
00:27 Well, just to recap, Andrew Tate is already facing charges in Romania of human trafficking, genie, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
00:37 Charges, of course, which he denies.
00:39 But just to go back a little bit further, back in December 22, he and his brother Tristram were placed under house arrest by the authorities in Romania.
00:48 That house arrest was lifted in August last year, but they're still prevented from leaving the country.
00:54 However, in the meantime, a law firm in Britain has come forward saying they now represent four women who have accused Tate of rape and had received information that he was planning to flee Romania.
01:05 As a result, they passed on that information to the UK government, who then sought a warrant for Tate's arrest and extradition to Britain.
01:14 And that's the reason for yesterday's appearance in this Bucharest court.
01:18 What the judge ruled, however, is yes, he can indeed face extradition along with his brother, but it will only happen after all the legal proceedings in Romania have ended.
01:30 So in other words, not in the immediate future.
01:33 Let's just take a listen to what Tate had to say afterwards to reporters.
01:37 My soul is not for sale, neither are my principles.
01:41 We are innocent men.
01:42 No, we're very innocent men and in time, everybody's going to see that and we're very excited to finish this judicial process and clear our names.
01:48 And then Andrew Tate is famous for having millions of followers.
01:52 Does he still have the same degree of influence he had in the past?
01:55 Well, some would argue that his influence has been waning ever since 2022 as a result of the arrest and all the resulting negative publicity.
02:03 But having said that, regardless, there are plenty of alternatives out there already willing to fill or already filling that gap in the manosphere.
02:13 There are already three or four key man influences, as they're known.
02:17 And as an analyst said in the UK, Andrew Tate's not the symptom.
02:22 He's a symptom rather, not the problem.
02:24 The problem is men and boys.
02:26 And basically people like Andrew Tate exploit the vulnerabilities and the insecurities of men and boys in a time when obviously gender equality is very much at the forefront of people's minds.
02:40 In fact, this week, one of our guests was Daniel Guinness, the managing director of Beyond Equality, a UK organisation that goes into workplaces, universities and schools.
02:50 And so basically talks to men and boys about transforming attitudes towards unhealthy behaviours.
02:57 And he says that these men feel under pressure.
03:00 They've got a lot of internalised expectations about manhood, many of whom say they cannot fulfil.
03:07 In addition, some feel that they've been stereotyped or blamed for others' actions.
03:12 But having said that, educators across the world are talking about Andrew Tate's influence and the influence of other like such influences on boys, particularly at a time when pornography is so easily accessible.
03:27 And where there's a sort of growing sense that they are men and boys are being mistreated and hated simply because of their gender.
03:35 And that is something that authorities and educators and other people need to be aware of because what it plays out, as we report on in this week's show, is political parties taking advantage of that, particularly the far right in places such as Germany, the US and elsewhere, who are now specifically targeting disaffected young men.
