this post was submitted on 12 May 2025
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 255 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Is anyone surprised? This isn't a jab at Hasan, it's just a reminder that fascists will crack down on opponents. The likes of Hasan will be deliberately targeted until they've been silenced one way or another, and then they'll come for you.

[–] [email protected] 79 points 6 days ago

I'm actually surprised it didn't happen sooner, but it's still newsworthy.

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[–] [email protected] 243 points 6 days ago (15 children)

No fan of Hasan, but this shouldn't be happening to anyone.

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[–] [email protected] 130 points 5 days ago (3 children)

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

[–] WoodScientist 48 points 5 days ago (2 children)

It didn't start with leftists. It started with immigrants, but we didn't do anything, because both parties are united in bigotry and vile hatred against immigrants.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 5 days ago

no, it started with leftists. It just started a lot longer ago than you think.

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[–] [email protected] 104 points 5 days 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.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 5 days ago (13 children)

progressive

Pretty sure dude is a leftist. Capitalist media has never encountered this before.

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[–] shaserlark 73 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 56 points 5 days ago

Right wing groups have been targeting him for his support of Palestine and being critical of Israel.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 days ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 139 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (5 children)

Pathetic, and for the record Hasan would interview Hamas, because interviewing someone is not an endorsement of someone if you aren't a piece of shit fraud like the members of the Trump administration who treat interviews as theater to spread propaganda with no evidence are.

Assuming someone interviewing someone you consider a threat is thus by association a threat of the same kind is a shockingly dangerous precendent to set and basically spells out the extinction of a free press in no uncertain terms.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 5 days ago (5 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 57 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 5 days ago

It's too bad they didn't let him stream it. That would've been peak content.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

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.

EDIT: Timestamped.

EDIT: Timestamped, again. Same video.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 days 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.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days 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.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 6 days ago

At first they came for the Communists...

[–] [email protected] 41 points 5 days 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.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 5 days ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Completely normal for USA. There are plenty of people who have been hiding from imperial violence. Snowden, Assange, et al. Always has been.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/abdulrahman-al-awlaki-us-drone-strike-10-years

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 5 days 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

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 days ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 6 days ago

They can't really tell the difference between Hasan Piker, Mahmoud Khalil, and Yahya Sinwar. They literally don't know there is a difference, and don't particularly care to investigate. It's all just "terrorist," just some of them live in the US and are allowed on the internet. For some reason. Temporarily.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 5 days ago

I'm glad he was released, this shouldn't have happened. Meanwhile, a random Iraqi who was legally, iirc, here was sent to Rwanda. We know nothing else about that afaik.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 6 days ago

Fox version, if they even cover it:

"A known terrorist supporter was questioned about his pro-hamas stances and his hatred of America, hatred of our great president especially, and the left naturally are losing their minds over this! Of course they would because they also hate America and hate freedom. They want hamas to run America into the ground and they want transgender Communism forced down your childrens throats! Thank God for the great job border protection and customs does, he's just lucky he got to leave outside of a casket! More than he deserves!"

MAGA: mhmm mmhmm, sound right. Good thing border patrol and customs protects us! We need to give ICE more money! There's nothing wrong at all with this picture!

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