With more than 250 million subscribers, Spotify is by far the biggest audio streaming platform in the world – and for countless families like mine, it’s the first port of call for music, audiobooks and podcasts for children as well as adults.
In common with many apps, it has a children’s version which blocks inappropriate content for younger audiences. But in common with many parents of secondary school-aged kids, I was persuaded to remove this feature so my 11-year-old son could listen to songs by some of his favourite artists, from Oasis to Harry Styles. I had no idea that this would open him up to exposure to a step-by-step guide on trafficking women.
Until last week, the full ‘Pimping Hoes Degree’ course by Andrew Tate – misogynistic influencer and alleged rapist – was freely available on Spotify. The ‘course’ – which takes its title from a sexist play on ‘PhD’ – features the 38-year-old spouting sexist ‘advice’, painting women as objects to be conquered and controlled and sharing explicit instructions on how to exploit women through coercion and deception.
He barks in his signature frantic tone: ‘A woman must learn… that the easiest path is to obey. Some are more mouldable than others. The girl has to be smiling, she has to be happy. The men aren’t going on these to see some miserable bitch. Their wife is a miserable bitch, they’re spending money to see a happy girl.
‘If you want to understand women, I know what I know because I’ve fucked so many women. I’ve had smart ones, stupid ones, hot ones. I’ve had them all. No uglies you know. In the modern world, for every five girls you fuck, one will be a quality woman.’
And so it goes on. The material was uploaded to Spotify in 2023, but last week a string of the recordings disappeared. It followed a petition demanding their removal that had attracted more than 100,000 signatures.
‘His content didn’t just offer misogynistic opinions – it was a step-by-step guide for wannabe pimps on how to manipulate and control women for profit,’ says Renee Chopping from Collective Shout, who started the petition. ‘This included grooming tactics to lure women in under false pretences, psychological and financial control methods to keep them dependent.
‘This isn’t just offensive – it’s dangerous. When major platforms like Spotify allow this content to spread, they contribute to a culture where the exploitation of women is seen as acceptable or even aspirational.’
It’s not the first controversy to strike Spotify, which has previously been accused of short-changing musicians by making it harder to generate royalties and using algorithms to promote fake artists and generic music to listeners. The platform has not responded to repeated requests for comment for this article.
‘When platforms like Spotify host this material, they give it a stamp of credibility, allowing dangerous ideas to spread unchecked and reach impressionable audiences’
The backlash over Tate’s Spotify recordings follows his failed ‘Hustler University’ programme which his ‘students’ paid almost $50 a month to be a part of, and which led to him being investigated for tax evasion as well as rape and human trafficking in both the UK and Romania. Tate – who was born in the US but grew up in the UK – denies all accusations against him. Despite the controversy surrounding this and his 2016 appearance on Big Brother, he’s built a huge online following in the ‘manosphere’ reaching teenagers and adults alike.
A recent YouGov poll revealed that 84 per cent of 13- to 15-year-olds had heard of Tate – with almost one in four having a positive view of him. A University of York study released last month interviewed 200 teachers across secondary and primary schools in the UK and found one in four referenced male pupils discussing misogynistic influencers like Tate, or misogynistic movements from the internet, such as incels. One in three said they’d heard male pupils making misogynistic comments.
It also emerged recently that triple murderer Kyle Clifford watched up to ten videos of Tate in the 24 hours before he killed his ex-girlfriend Louise Hunt, her sister Hannah and their mother Carol last year.
Professor Harriet Over, from the University of York’s department of psychology, says: ‘There has been an increase over the past 15 years in social media influencers or self-styled “life coaches” pushing a narrative that attempts to legitimise… acts of sexual violence, and verbal abuse. We can see from recent surveys that these views reach a wide online audience, which includes young people and children.’
Caroline Voaden MP, speaking in the Protection of Children (Digital Safety and Data Protection) Bill debate in parliament this month, mentioned Tate’s influence and the role of legislators in protecting young boys from this. She said: ‘What is happening online is clearly impacting the everyday lives of children and teenagers, and we, as responsible adults and legislators, have a duty to try and mitigate those harms. I am thinking particularly of the horrible, dangerous misogyny of the likes of Andrew Tate, which is being lapped up by boys who are under his influence – boys who then spread his misogynistic hate speech.’
‘The mainstreaming of Andrew Tate’s content is deeply harmful because it normalises and legitimises the exploitation of women,’ adds Chopping, who works with survivors of sex trafficking. ‘When platforms like Spotify host this material, they give it a stamp of credibility, allowing dangerous ideas to spread unchecked and reach impressionable audiences – many of whom are young men still forming their worldviews.
‘Spotify’s decision to remove these courses is an important step, but it never should have been there in the first place. We need tech platforms to take proactive responsibility and stop enabling content that promotes abuse and exploitation.’
For me, Spotify’s decision to remove some of Tate’s recordings is all a bit too little too late. I, like many others horrified to see this content on the platform, have cancelled my family subscription. I know I can’t protect my boys from everything, but we can vote with our wallets and support those spaces that try harder to protect us from harmful content and push for greater legislation to tackle this.
In writing this piece, I asked my son if he’d heard of Tate. He nodded. I asked him what he thought of him, he said: ‘Sexist idiot.’ At least he gets it.
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