Hasan Piker, a popular Twitch streamer and political commentator for The Young Turks, has been accused of exploiting a video editor for free content. An angry user on Reddit took up arms by creating a long-winded account, describing how Hasan allegedly exploited them for free work.
Essentially, the editor was under the impression that Hasan was looking for a full-time video editor for his YouTube channel. The editor created a few videos for Hasan, which he approved of and used for his channel. The editor claimed that Hasan ended up using 7-8 videos without paying for them, nor followed up with them when queried about the editor position that was supposedly vacant.
The post received over 15,000 upvotes on Reddit and eventually drew a response from Hasan himself.
The drama polarized Reddit users, with many rushing to the defense of the editor. Reddit user Orion_2G commented, "Hasan strung him along by saying directly to him that hes looking for a new full time editor. The entire situation seems pretty fucked up tho tbh." Many in the chat felt similarly upon reading the original poster's story.
Others remained skeptical, emphasizing the need for the editor to have requested pay directly, rather than beating around the bush. When reading through their DMs, the undertones of informality make it easy to see why Hasan wasn't rushing to pay. The editor presented themselves more like a fan who enjoyed helping out the streamer, not making their intentions immediately obvious.
Both sides seem to make solid points — neither appear completely innocent. The editor could have made his intentions much more clear from the very beginning, cutting off sending Hasan videos when he started to feel cheated. Hasan, on the other hand, could have communicated better with the editor, making it clear that he wasn't looking to pay people for the time being, due to lack of profits from the site.
All-in-all, this is a story of poor communication. Hasan clearly wasn't trying to cheat this editor out of his time, as he clearly stated that he would pay if simply asked in the follow-up. As a freelancer, making no assumptions is the smartest way to not get screwed out of compensation — a lesson this editor won't soon forget.