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.

  • sexy_peach@feddit.org
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    11 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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      9 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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        5 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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          5 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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        3 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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          6 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