Draft:Silviu Istrate

Silviu Istrate (born 25 August 1995), also known as Silviu Faiăr, is a left-wing Romanian political commentator, Twitch streamer and social media influencer. He has the most watched channel on Twitch in Romania.

Twitch and Youtube career
On December 1, 2020, Faiar had its first stream on the Twitch platform, along with his friend Alexandru Zlavog. This formula was also adopted before Twitch, on YouTube, making together entertainment clips since 2019. With the start of streaming, Silviu Istrate created a special channel for publishing the moments captured on live. This channel has seen steady growth, surpassing in views and subscribing to the main channel, which he has finally given up.

On October 29, 2021, he recorded a new record on the Romanian Twitch, reaching a number of over 27,000 people who looked at his stream alongside Romanian influencer TJ Miles.

In 2023, in the context of a campaign by the Declic Association against gambling advertisements, Silviu Istrate criticized influencers who make such advertisements. His followers left comments with the emoji „empty plate", with the meaning of "Hunger is high" (an accusation of greed) on the posts of those influencers. Some of the latter were persuaded to give up advertising.

He is also known for his charity streams, where he collects donations for various causes.

Personal life
Before starting Twitch streaming, he worked 8 years in publicity and marketing. He was also a journalist at the Romanian-language branch of Vice. According to his own statements, he was a member of the Save Romania Union, but he later left the party.

Political views
At the 2019 Romanian presidential election, Istrate, by that time a member of the Save Romania Union (USR), openly supported Dan Barna. He left USR in 2022.

A self-described democratic socialist and feminist, he is a supporter of abortion rights and LGBT rights    and he is a strong critic of the conservative political figures in Romania, such as Mihail Neamțu,    Adrian Papahagi, George Becali, Diana Iovanovici-Șoșoacă or the right-wing AUR party. In 2023, he received the People's Choice Award from the Romanian LGBT rights association MozaiQ for his support of the Romanian LGBT community.

Istrate is a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause and an anti-Zionist, opposing the existence of the state Israel, which he considers "fascist state" and "the puppet of the United States in the Middle East. He considers Israel, The US and the West as the main culprits for the outburst Israel-Hamas War of 2023, claiming that Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinian civilians. In an interview for the Romanian publication Genștiri taken at a pro-Palestinian rally in Bucharest, Istrate refused to label Hamas as a terrorist organization.

G4 Media labeled Istrate as a left-wing, anti-capitalist and anti-American influencer, while journalist Costin Andrieș described Istrate as "more Ceaușist than George Simion, more anti-American than ie-wearing Bolsheviks like Dan Tănasă and more anti-Israel than Iron Guardist Claudiu Târziu".

Istrate supported independent Nicu Ștefănuță at the 2024 European Parliament election in Romania.