MP launches legal action against Andrew and Tristan Tate over social media posts

15 January 2025, 10:28 | Updated: 15 January 2025, 11:35

A Northern Ireland MP has launched legal proceedings against Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan over social media posts.

The law firm representing Sorcha Eastwood, an MP for the Alliance party, said the posts were from Friday - the day after the politician told the House of Commons she was a "survivor of abuse".

In a statement to Sky News, KRW law said: "We act on behalf of Sorcha Eastwood MP. We are instructed to issue legal proceedings against Andrew and Tristan Tate over their continued publication of social media postings on 10 January 2025."

They said they would not be making any further comment at this stage "in view of the sensitivities of the issues engaged".

Ms Eastwood and her lawyers have not disclosed which posts the legal proceedings relate to.

Sky News has contacted lawyers representing the Tate brothers for comment.

On Thursday, Ms Eastwood addressed parliament during a debate on violence against women and girls, and said a member of the public had once approached her and told her "they wanted to rape me" during a school visit she was leading at Stormont.

The Lagan Valley MP said: "I am a survivor of abuse myself. Northern Ireland is one of the most dangerous places in Europe to be a woman.

"We previously did a lot of visits to the Northern Ireland Parliament building Stormont whenever I sat there in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and during one school visit a member of the public came up and said they wanted to rape me.

"And there were two people there and we just kind of were paralysed with the response, and that was not the right response. Not from me, but from the people around."

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She also made a point of condemning "incel culture" - an online subculture involving men who express hostility and extreme resentment towards those who are sexually active, particularly women.

Andrew Tate, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, who are self-described misogynists, have strong social media followings, and are particularly popular with young, male audiences.

The former was banned from TikTok, YouTube and Facebook after the platforms accused him of posting hate speech and misogynistic comments, including that women should bear responsibility for being sexually assaulted.

But he remains popular on X, formerly Twitter, where he has 10.5 million followers.

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