Hasan Piker On The Next Big Internet Battle
+ Inside tea on Peter Thiel’s secret society, doom trolling, Edikted, Streamer U mania, dopamine sites, Whoa Vicky's literary era, GR00T, Footy Addicts, and a Polymarket podcast
Happy Friday and happy Juneteenth! For this week’s Free Speech Friday, Hasan Piker joined me for a wide-ranging conversation about online censorship, government surveillance, digital ID laws, Section 230, TikTok, KOSA, free speech, the JAWBONE Act, internet privacy, and the growing pressure campaigns targeting creators and political commentators. Watch the full episode here.
We discuss:
• The rise of online censorship around the world
• The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)
• Government surveillance and digital ID requirements
• The future of online anonymity
• Section 230 and why it matters
• TikTok, Big Tech, and content moderation
• Government pressure on social media platforms
• Free speech on the left and the right
As governments push new regulations in the name of “online safety” the debate over free speech, privacy, censorship, and freedom is becoming more important than ever.
Why Timothée Chalamet Is Shilling Kalshi
Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have become one of the most powerful forces in American media, politics, and culture. In the latest episode of my Power User podcast, I sit down with NPR’s Bobby Allyn, the country’s top prediction-markets reporter, to break down how Kalshi went from a tiny startup that 50 lawyers refused to represent to an inescapable cultural juggernaut backed by the Trump family, celebrities, and major news organizations.
We dig into how Kalshi exploited a legal loophole to bring sports betting and election betting to every state, why Donald Trump Jr. became an advisor to both Kalshi and Polymarket, and how the companies called the 2024 election for Trump before the mainstream media would, cementing their place in the MAGA universe. Bobby explains the rise of Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, Polymarket’s offshore “crypto bad boy” founder Shane Coplan, and the regulatory war happening right now inside the CFTC.
We also cover the dark side nobody is talking about: undisclosed influencer marketing flooding your feed, the Timothée Chalamet Kalshi deal, secret ads during the NBA playoffs, the Mr. Beast video editor insider trading scandal, betting markets on wildfires and war, and the casinoification of the entire economy. We dig into the lawsuits, the looming Supreme Court showdown, and whether this whole gambling empire could vanish overnight! WATCH NOW.