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.
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?
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
That’s totalitarian mentality.
Hasan is on tape saying his goal is to radicalise his audience. Calling him a journalist mightve sound plausible four years ago.