The Role of Online Influencers in Countering Digital Extreme-Right Messaging: The Case of Hasan Piker and the Twitch Network

Although significant research has been conducted on the role of online influencers in fomenting and proliferating right-wing extremist narratives, conspiracies, and ideology, little attention has been paid to digital content creators who actively work to defuse and counter such ideas. This paper seeks to fill this gap by considering the case of Hasan Piker, a prolific leftist streamer and e-celebrity, theorized through Gramsci’s notion of the organic intellectual. Accordingly, we analyze a series of Piker’s livestreams that engage with various right-wing extremist talking points and consider his role in combating these ideas alongside his interactive audience.