The moral panic about Andrew Tate and his influence on young men has been massive — but what about the leftist, socialist and arguably antisemitic mega-streamer influencing millions of predominantly young male followers?
Hasan Piker, known to his 2.9 million Twitch followers as HasanAbi, appeals to the same “bro” demographic as stereotypical right-leaning manosphere influencers — popping nicotine pouches, gaming on livestream and hitting up the gym as well as gun ranges — but he sells a very different ideology.
The 33-year-old New Jersey born streamer, who recently showed up at anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles in a bulletproof vest, has self-described as leftist, socialist and anti-capitalist. He holds enormous cultural sway with the Zoomers who flock to Twitch, a platform with more users in the 16- to 24-year-old demo than any other.
Parents should have their eye on Piker, who has told his 7.3 million followers across platforms — multiple times — that America “deserved 9/11” and that Jews are “inbred.”
He is truly indefatigable and on Twitch for seven, eight, nine hours day, at least six days a week. As of June 18, Piker’s only taken two days off since the month started, and streamed more than 10 hours on June 8.
Set up at his home monitor, the streamer flips through news clips and articles, from Al Jazeera to Fox News, and occasionally films himself gaming or giving dating advice. He will usually rack up more than a million views over the course of a stream.
Piker’s stamina is matched only by that of his fans, who flood the comments at breakneck speed.
“May Allah awaken President Xi and allow him to see the evil doing of Israel and the United States,” one commenter said on a recent stream. Another chimed in when Piker showed a clip from Fox News: “In a just world Fox News in its entirety would be lined up in the Hague for these lies and propaganda.”
Even after Piker logs off his hours-long video feed, the messages keep pouring in. In a recent livestream discussing Israel’s conflict with Iran, he called Israel “the giant baby nation with nuclear arms” and said its “existence is a great shame and a serious stain.”
Piker also suggested the May 21 Capital Jewish Museum shooting in DC, which left two young Israeli embassy staffers dead, was a “false flag operation.”
“Every single thing that [accused shooter Elias Rodriguez] did in the aftermath of the shooting is so f–king crazy that it’s like, you could not have designed a f–king incident like this,” he said on his livestream.
Major political figures on the left are clamoring to sit down with him.
Pike got both AOC and Bernie Sanders on camera for an interview together in March, during which he gifted Rep. Ocasio-Cortez a booklet on the pro-Palestinian solidarity movement in Japan.
In a recent interview with NYC democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, the pair discussed government-run housing and supermarkets, free public transport and criminal justice reform.
“I want Austrian style, Red Vienna, 65% of the entire city is just peppered with government housing, that’s what I want,” Piker said as they bonded over donuts.
“Let’s talk about the unheard minority, the marginalized, people of wealth — POW — I feel like they’re getting a hard bargain here with you,” Piker joked. “Meritocracy, obviously real, Elon Musk worked the smartest and the hardest. Why do you hate the successful, wealthy people?”
Meanwhile, Piker drives a $200,000 Porsche Taycan and lives in a nearly $3 million, 3,800 square foot West Hollywood home.
He was launched into popular consciousness via a strange and somewhat eroticized New York Times profile in April, with the headline “A Progressive Mind in a MAGA Body.”
“Mr. Piker’s success on camera, in some part, has been aided by the fact that he is, by conventional standards, a very handsome man,” the profile fawned. “He is 6 feet 4 inches tall and built like a professional athlete, with a square jaw, a beard and a head of thick dark hair.”
While parents should laugh off the drooling, they’d be remiss to dismiss Piker’s influence on young men who see him as aspirational.
He’s a different kind of male role model than popular-right wing influencers — the sort who tells reporters at pro-Palestine rallies that “a strong man protects those who can’t protect themselves” and whose fans search desperately for a workout routine to achieve his physique.
There’s a simplistic narrative that young men are moving to the right politically while young women are going to the left. While this might be more true of Gen Z than with prior generations, the fact of the matter is, kids are liable to go down any number of online rabbit holes.
I know this as a Zoomer who grew up with YouTube and, as a tween and young teen, was led to the right and to the left at various times by algorithmic feedback loops.
Piker’s socialism isn’t exactly fringe in Gen Z. A 2022 Pew poll found more 18- to 29-year-olds had a positive view of socialism (44%) than capitalism (40%), and a 2024 YouGov survey found 25% of that same age group had a positive view of communism.
It’s easier today than ever for a kid who’s learning about the world to attach to a couple online voices — whether Andrew Tate or Hasan Piker — as portals to the outside world they’re desperate to make sense of.
While the mainstream media has its panties in a bunch over influencers turning young men conservative, they’re writing fawning puff pieces about the radical left-wing streamers pushing youth to the opposite extreme.
We should be equally concerned about kids getting radicalized in any direction — and all play our part in modeling skepticism, critical thinking and media literacy for a generation growing up in the internet age.
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