ICYMI | The Streamer and the Shock Collar

Slate Technology

Slate

Society & Culture, Technology, History

4.6 • 636 Ratings

🗓️ 22 October 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Slate staff writer Luke Winkie to talk about Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who some viewers have accused of shocking his dog on his livestream. Winkie spent time with Piker and his dog, Kaya, for Slate earlier this year, and helps debunk the misinformation currently being spread by cloutchasers and right-wing media figures alike. He also answers the most important question of them all: Just how soft is Kaya’s fur, exactly? Get more of ICYMI with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of ICYMI and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the ICYMI show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/icymiplus for access wherever you listen. This podcast is produced by Daisy Rosario, Vic Whitley-Berry, and Kate Lindsay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Adobe Acrobat Studio so brand new.
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0:22.6	Now you can do that, do that with the all new Acrobat.
0:25.6	It's time to do your best work with-M-I-M-I, or in case you missed it, Slate's podcast about internet culture.
0:51.4	And joining us for today's episode is Slate Staff Writer, Luke Winky.
0:55.8	Luke, welcome.
0:57.2	Good to be here, Kate.
0:57.8	Thanks for having me.
0:58.8	And I have a very important question for you to kick things off today, which is, do you
1:03.3	watch any streamers?
1:05.0	Are you a Twitch person?
1:07.2	You know, I think in my early 20s and late, my college my college years, I watched a good amount of, like, video game streams, but I've kind of fallen off since then, except for one streamer in particular I do tend to tune into here and there.
1:19.9	Mm-hmm. Yes, I have a feeling he will come up momentarily. But yes, so Twitch in general is, if there's many live streaming platforms, but Twitch, which is owned by Amazon, is probably kind of the best, best known one.
1:35.4	It has some really interesting demographics.
1:38.2	And I think what stands out the most is that the largest percentage of its users, which is 41%, are between the ages of 16 and 24.
1:47.7	So it makes sense then that that was also your experience with it.
1:51.4	It kind of reminds me of Snapchat where it's like, Snapchat hasn't died, but you just
1:55.8	have to, it's the same age group coming to it and then graduating from it over and over again.
2:00.8	I would say that's what's
2:01.8	happening here, but for Gen Alpha in particular, YouTube and streaming, because you can stream on
2:06.6	YouTube as well, and often people stream simultaneously. It kind of reminds me of how when you're in a
2:11.6	Lyft or an Uber, you see that they have like a different phone for each app. I think that's what's
	...

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