Hasan Piker, the biggest progressive political streamer in America, was detained by Customs and Border Protection for hours of questioning upon returning to the U.S. from a trip to France this weekend. Piker posted about the incident on X and later talked about it on stream.

He was detained in Chiago and questioned for two hours about protected journalistic activities like who he’s interviewed and his political beliefs. He was asked whether or not he’d interviewed Hamas, Houthis, or Hezbollah members. He was questioned about his opinions on Trump and Israel and asked about his history of bans on Twitch. His phone and laptop were not confiscated.

  • HalfSalesman@lemm.ee
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    29 minutes ago

    I have a like/dislike perspective on Hasan Piker.

    Hes tankie-lite. Critical support for him in this case though, fuck ICE.

    Its probably an indicator that I really need to touch grass that I’m primarily curious what Ethan Klein and Lonerbox think of this.

    • Prandom_returns@lemm.ee
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      18 minutes ago

      Borderline tankie. Remember him being best buds with putin before russia attacked Ukraine? Dude probably still blames NATO for that.

  • arifinhiding@feddit.org
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    4 hours ago

    The questioning (though harmless) is often a stepping stone to more drastic measures. In the place where I live (not the US), my local religious police does questioning to make sure that activists are not posting their status online. This sort of measure helps them evade accountability and keeps the general public in ignorance.

    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 hours ago

      The questioning (though harmless)

      There’s nothing “harmless” about kidnapping people and coercing them into an interrogation.

      This sort of measure helps them evade accountability and keeps the general public in ignorance.

      Yep, that’s some of the harm.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      38 minutes ago

      In the place where I live (not the US), my local religious police does questioning to make sure that activists are not posting their status online.

      Careful. Depending on which not-the-US country you’re in, this could be flagged as anti-semitism.

  • shaserlark@sh.itjust.works
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    9 hours ago

    Never heard of this guy but must have hit a nerve if a whole Hasbara brigade is showing up here to trash talk him.

    That being said, it’s an interesting turn of events that apparently units around immigration take the role of Gestapo. Makes a lot of sense given what types of people would even want to do such a job but it’s still not what I expected when they said fascism is coming back.

    • Secluded_Serenity@leminal.space
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      6 hours ago

      It should be a surprise to no one that government goons are totally on board with fascism. Did anyone think for a second that they would have objections? A person that chose to be in a position of authority is going to complain when an authoritarian leader gives them more power? Yeah right. It’s all about the power trip for those thugs.

  • Redex@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    I find it crazy to hear this coming from the US. It was all over the news when Serbia detained a Croatian singer trying to cross the border or trying to deport people with Croatian citizenship, crazy to see the same thing happening in the US.

  • AidsKitty@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    Ive been stopped and questioned by border patrol for hours at least 3 times over the last 15 years. Apparently I’m an asshole and this is how they “get their revenge” on you. This guy was only stopped once… amateur.

  • daepicgamerbro69@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    These people get to ask Hasan head-empty questions for hours and get paid. To think his entire fanbase has been doing it for free this entire time

  • Sʏʟᴇɴᴄᴇ@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    14 hours ago

    Crazy that in his stream with FD a few weeks ago he was adamant that he’d be one of the last people impacted by the immigration/border control nonsense.

    I think it just goes to show how, even otherwise well informed people, can underestimate how much fascism will impact them personally. It can be easy to distance yourself until it is in your face, placing you in cuffs, or forcible removing you from your home. I hope he learns a lesson from this experience.

  • audaxdreik@pawb.social
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    13 hours ago

    I’m starting to feel like a lot of the takes against Hasan are in bad faith. I watched a little recap and I felt it was both clear and obvious that YOU (normal person) shouldn’t do what he did.

    But being a notable person of interest who was already (questionably?) illegally caught up in a bad system, there’s reason to believe things wouldn’t take a turn for the better just because he asked to lawyer up. So he took a calculated risk and engaged with the situation enough to gather a first hand experience he could report on. Concrete evidence, there’s value in that. It was his decision to make.

    To reiterate, obvious YOU don’t do that. Stay silent, lawyer up.

    • infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net
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      11 minutes ago

      Yeah you don’t have to watch Hasan for too long to realize that most objections against him are empty / bad faith. If he’s guilty of anything at all it’s getting distracted by / yelling at his chat too much. But I chalk that up to general Twitch culture. The reality is that he’s politically activating and engaging tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of people who wouldn’t be otherwise, or would have been watching slop / right wing pipeline content instead. I wish there were more people like him in streaming, but obviously it’s a difficult niche to exist in.

    • dan00@lemm.ee
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      5 hours ago

      They are in bad faith. If you watch a full argument from Hasan, it’s really difficult to not agree with him. The American centric view of the world is distorting everything. Step back, watch events from a different prospective, many things will be clearer.

  • demizerone@lemmy.world
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    16 hours ago

    Remember folks, it starts with the leftists, then it doesn’t stop until we lose for good. Every 80 years.

  • sexy_peach@feddit.org
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    13 hours ago

    Wow this is bad. Even if you deem questioning necessary, it being done by border protection is a bad sign. There are other mechanisms in place for that.

    The US is spiraling fast.

    • KeenFlame@feddit.nu
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      11 hours ago

      Question

      When do who exactly deem that “questioning” journalists is a good idea? Who? Can anyone deem anyone else for “questioning”?

      What are the wrong answers? What is the questions about? What do they question about and why?

      • vxx@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        Hasan is on tape saying his goal is to radicalise his audience. Calling him a journalist mightve sound plausible four years ago.

        • KeenFlame@feddit.nu
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          7 hours ago

          Sorry, you’re right. He’s an influencer. He will say anything that appeals to his clan. But these types are so incapable of engineering anything that doesn’t funnel into building an audience

      • Deathray5@lemmynsfw.com
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        5 hours ago

        If there were legitimate questions about someone’s affiliation with terrorist organisations it does make sense to question them regardless of if they are a journalist or not.

        Edit: to clarify I don’t agree with what happened in this case and I would expect a warrant

        • KeenFlame@feddit.nu
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          8 hours ago

          But… Is this the case with this guy? He can be investigated by watching and concluding that he says what he thinks is a cool leftist guy would say and don’t hold any beliefs at all to rival his need for an audience that can prove his worth to himself which quickly becomes a desperate way to live

  • vga@sopuli.xyz
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    8 hours ago

    Like so many other political pundits, Hasan Piker is an asshole but obviously he should have the right to be that without anyone (edit with official authority) questioning him.

  • sunglocto@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    7 hours ago

    Hasan’s a moron, but detaining him for his opinions is definitely unwarranted and stinks of the same bullshit reasons that this administration has been using to play hide and seek and deport anyone they don’t like.

      • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 hours ago

        He’s a “moron” for standing up to imperialism. Most of Lemmy just vote, fantasize about leopards, and bootlick.

      • Baaahb@feddit.nl
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        6 hours ago

        He preaches hard left politics. Mostly people want to call him a moron for hot takes, but the majority of what he says is fine.

          • Baaahb@feddit.nl
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            4 hours ago

            It happens when your whole schtick is talking incessantly to a stream, especially if you are discussing politics off the dome. Its not like the majority of the dumb takes are in anything like a Speech or actual political messaging. I’m definitely guilty of this.not all of my ideas are good ideas, why would I hold an internet talking head to a higher standard?

            • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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              3 hours ago

              Idk it depends on how you respond to those bad takes imo, being wrong sometimes is normal, but doubling down or refusing to see alternatives is an issue. Not saying Hasan does this per-say, I don’t watch him frequently enough to say.

              • Baaahb@feddit.nl
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                30 minutes ago

                Same. I dont know hasan, couldn’t pick him out of a crowd, but I’ve been on the internet long enough.

        • ArtificialHoldings@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          He streams for like 8 hours a day, most of which is making commentary on current events - eventually, you’ll run out of gas and say something stupid. He has a solid basis of knowledge but obviously pushes the aesthetic and ideology above any attempt to be even-handed.

          He’s not as eloquent or well researched on specific topics other debate bros, even if you agree with his bottom line you can tell he struggles to deliver substantive arguments in certain moments… He has a very strong tell when he knows he’s grasping.

        • DicJacobus@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          He’s always struck me as a horseshoe Lefty, in that he’s so far left he seems comparable to the MAGA crowd in his radical beliefs.

          • smol_beans@lemmy.world
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            2 hours ago

            Maga crowd: trans people shouldn’t exist

            Hasan: trans people should be respected and accepted

            DicJacobus: these sound like the same thing to me

            • DicJacobus@lemmy.world
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              1 hour ago

              I didn’t even specify which topic I had witnessed. Don’t go putting words in someone’s mouth.

              To be specific. Some of his takes on thr political situation revolving around the war in Europe is what made me think he was insane

      • DrDickHandler@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        He isn’t. There are many right wing groups purposely spreading hate to discredit him as he is one of the only left wing political streamer criticizing Israel, Russia, Democrats, etc…

      • SmilingSolaris@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        Leftist. Generally if you don’t agree with someone, a dumb person will say that person is dumb. Take from that what you will