Did Pizza Box Lead to Andrew Tate's Arrest and How A 'GRETA' Brought Down the Misogynist | Explained

Andrew Tate, a controversial online influencer, and former professional kickboxer, was detained on Friday in Romania on charges of human trafficking and rape.

The former kickboxer and social media personality, who has been banned from several social media platforms for misogynistic comments and hate speech, was arrested alongside his brother and two other suspects.

The move came just days after Tate had a heated Twitter exchange with Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg, which internet users have speculated helped Romanian police to locate and arrest him.

Viral Twitter exchanges between Tate and Thunberg this week on subjects ranging from cars with “enormous emissions” to pizza boxes, fuelled speculation on social media.

Following the arrest, people had several questions in mind including whether there was a link between the verbal spat with Greta Thunberg and Tate’s arrest to whether the pizza box led to the arrest.

News18 explains all the queries regarding the arrest:

Why was Andrew Tate arrested?

Tate and his brother Tristan Tate, both US-British citizens, were arrested along with two others in connection with an “organised crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialised websites for a cost,” according to Romanian officials.

The authorities said that the men recruited women by “misrepresenting their intention to enter into a marriage/cohabitation relationship and the existence of genuine feelings of love”. Later, the victims were subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion”, sexually exploited by group members and forced to perform pornographic acts intended to reap “important financial benefits.”

Did Pizza box lead to his arrest?

Several reports last week claimed a pizza box helped cops narrow in on Tate’s location, leading to his arrest. Memes and a widely shared image of Tate eating from a pizza box in a social media video response to climate activist Greta Thunberg drew speculation that the local pizza place gave away his location.

But the Romanian law enforcement agency confirmed that the Jerry’s pizza box did not, after all, lead to Andrew Tate’s arrest. His arrest followed a months-long investigation and the “hard job” of “gathering all the evidence,” Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIIOCT) spokesperson Ramona Bolla told The Washington Post.

The prosecution has been investigating the suspects since the beginning of 2021 and had already searched Tate’s villa in April.

The detail of a pizza box ultimately revealing his location is inaccurate, according to DIIOCT spokesperson.

“Funny, but no,” the spokesperson told the Associated Press.

Long Misogynist Past

Andrew Tate has a long misogynist past and had been removed from several social media platforms.

He returned to Twitter after being banned in 2017 for violating its term of service when he tweeted that rape victims “bear some responsibility”.

In August this year, he was banned from YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok after he violated the platforms’ hate speech policies.

However, his Twitter account was recently restored in November after the ownership of Elon Musk, who had reinstated formerly suspended accounts.

He promotes an opulent, violent and “playboy” lifestyle where he portrays himself as someone who “gets what he wants” and beseech others to follow his teachings.

Row with Greta Made Arrest Prominent

The immediate thought that came to people’s mind following Tate’s arrest was: If his detention was related to his spat with Greta Thunberg?

The simple answer is a No.

The Council of Europe through the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) had urged Romania last year to effectively prosecute human trafficking.

On Tuesday, Tate tweeted at the 19-year-old Swedish activist to gloat about his car collection and asked for her email address “so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions.”

Greta responded by saying, “yes, please do enlighten me. email me at [email protected].”

Her response on 28 December has been viewed nearly 275 million times and shared more than 670,000 times on the platform as of 31 December.

In another video, Tate smoked a cigar in a robe while a person off-camera gave him a stack of pizza boxes from the Romanian pizza chain Jerry’s Pizza.

He was arrested on 29 December.

Though the netizens had jokes and great laugh at the Twitter spat, Greta was not linked to Tate’s arrest. The authorities also denied a connection between the Twitter feud and Tate’s arrest.

Read all the Latest Explainers here