We might have finally come out of the pandemic’s shadow in 2022, but there was another plague making all our lives worse throughout the year. The name “Andrew Tate” was popping up everywhere, and considering the man’s insignificance before 2022, everyone had to call on Google to find out who he was.
“Who is Andrew Tate?” was the most searched sentence started with “Who is” on Google in the U.S. in 2022. It enjoyed basically no popularity throughout the first half of the year, before gradually growing in numbers from July onward.
Over the summer, Tate went viral on social media for his violent rhetoric and bigoted views. Videos of him on TikTok reached almost a dozen billion views, The Guardian reported. Concerns grew over his possible influence on young men to adhere to his extremely misogynistic opinions on women, which resulted in Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and TikTok all banning him from their platforms. “Who is Andrew Tate?” peaked on Google Trends at the time of the bans.
Tate has been compared to far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who despite tormenting us all for years now, is still in Google’s “Who is” list, in fifth. Oh, how we envy those who still had no idea who Alex Jones was in 2022.
Coming in second place was America’s concern with the winner of the midterm elections with “Who is winning the election?” naturally peaking on the week of Nov. 6 to Nov. 12.
Also on the list are “the king of England,” in third, and serial killer “Jeffrey Dahmer” in sixth. The death of the Queen also led Google users to search “Who is next in line for the throne?,” which came in seventh place in the top 10.
People were likewise curious about who Amber Heard, Aaron Carter, and NATO were. Check out the full list below: