851
submitted 4 days ago by Domino@lemmings.world to c/world@quokk.au

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.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] goodeye8@fedia.io 261 points 4 days ago

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.

[-] PumaStoleMyBluff@lemmy.world 79 points 4 days ago

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

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 50 points 3 days ago

progressive

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

load more comments (16 replies)
[-] LaLaLa@ani.social 250 points 4 days ago

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

load more comments (128 replies)
[-] demizerone@lemmy.world 131 points 4 days ago

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

[-] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 48 points 4 days ago

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.

[-] djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 3 days ago

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

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[-] shaserlark@sh.itjust.works 72 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days 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.

[-] DrDickHandler@lemmy.world 55 points 3 days ago

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

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] Sylence@lemmy.dbzer0.com 109 points 4 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.

[-] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 143 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

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.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] arifinhiding@feddit.org 36 points 3 days 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 57 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days 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.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[-] mrodri89@lemmy.zip 29 points 3 days ago

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

[-] audaxdreik@pawb.social 52 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days 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.

EDIT: Timestamped.

EDIT: Timestamped, again. Same video.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] Redex68@lemmy.world 33 points 3 days 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.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 12 May 2025
851 points (98.5% liked)

World News

1114 readers
718 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be a decent person
  2. No spam
  3. Add the byline, or write a line or two in the body about the article.

Other communities of interest:

founded 7 months ago
MODERATORS