Technofacism? Why Palantir’s pro-West ‘manifesto’ has critics alarmed

The US tech elephantine Palantir Technologies has posted what it presumption a summary of Palantir CEO Alex Karp and caput of firm affairs Nicholas Zamiska’s book, The Technological Republic, connected societal media.

Many of the positions articulated successful the publication spell acold beyond what would usually beryllium expected of a tech company: calling for the instauration of nationalist service, the “moral” work of exertion companies to enactment successful defence, the necessity for hard powerfulness if what it calls escaped and antiauthoritarian powers are to prevail, and an clasp of religion successful nationalist life.

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The work of what appears to beryllium a 22-point manifesto comes astatine a captious clip for Palantir, which faces planetary disapproval for its enactment of US President Donald Trump’s arguable migration crackdown and its backing of the Israeli military’s actions successful Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Many person expressed alarm astatine the book’s accent connected taste hierarchies and what it calls “regressive” cultures.

Eliot Higgins, the laminitis of the online investigations level Bellingcat, sarcastically pointed retired however “completely normal” it was for a tech institution to station what helium said was a manifesto attacking antiauthoritarian norms. “It’s besides worthy being wide astir who’s doing the arguing,” Higgins added. “Palantir sells operational bundle to defence, intelligence, migration & constabulary agencies. These 22 points aren’t doctrine floating successful space, they’re the nationalist ideology of a institution whose gross depends connected the authorities it’s advocating.”

So, what is Palantir, wherefore is it truthful controversial, and wherefore has it posted the “manifesto” now?

What does the publication say?

As good arsenic referring to the hard powerfulness needed to regenerate the “soaring rhetoric” antecedently utilized to support “free and antiauthoritarian societies”, the publication rails against what it calls the “psychologization of modern politics”, which appears to criticise anyone the authors consciousness has go excessively emotionally invested successful their governmental representatives and identity.

The telephone for radical to attraction little astir authorities appears to critics arsenic a mode of deflecting from Palantir’s ain arguable governmental positions and its openness to moving with authorities policies that clamp down connected liberty. Worryingly for immoderate is besides the book’s accent connected what it calls the exertion sector’s “obligation to enactment successful the defence of the nation”, and connected the expected inevitability of processing AI weapons.

Among different points, the writers look to support billionaires, specified arsenic Elon Musk, whose achievements, they say, are not met with “curiosity oregon genuine interest” but are alternatively dismissed by those who “snicker” astatine the South African-born businessman. Musk was heavy criticised for his relation arsenic the caput of DOGE, oregon the US Department for Government Efficiency, which scrapped respective authorities agencies without overmuch respect for the roles those agencies played, oregon the ineligible and governmental process indispensable to unopen specified agencies down.

Palantir’s station concludes by criticising “the shallow temptation of a vacant and hollow pluralism”. It argues that an unthinking committedness to inclusivity and pluralism “glosses implicit the information that definite cultures and so subcultures… person produced wonders. Others person proven middling, and worse, regressive and harmful”.

How person radical reacted?

Not well.

Mark Coeckelbergh, a Belgian philosopher of exertion who teaches astatine the University of Vienna, described Palantir’s messaging arsenic an “example of technofascism”, portion Greek economist and erstwhile Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Palantir had efficaciously signalled a willingness “to adhd to atomic Armageddon the AI-driven menace to humanity’s existence”.

Posting connected societal media, Arnaud Bertrand, the entrepreneur and geopolitical commentator, claimed that Palantir had revealed a unsafe “ideological agenda”.

“They’re efficaciously saying ‘our tools aren’t meant to service your overseas policy. They’re meant to enforce ours’,” helium wrote.

What is Palantir?

Palantir Technologies is wide regarded arsenic 1 of the world’s astir influential information analytics firms, securing large contracts with governments, militaries and planetary corporations.

Founded successful 2003 by Alex Karp and Peter Thiel, with enactment from In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s task superior arm, it built its aboriginal concern connected post-9/11 quality enactment and has since expanded internationally, with contracts crossed Europe, the Middle East, and beyond.

While retaining his shares successful Palantir, Thiel is understood to nary longer play an progressive relation successful its day-to-day operations. Karp has positioned himself arsenic the nationalist look of the company.

Under Karp’s leadership, Palantir has drawn heavy connected the expertise of erstwhile members of Israel’s cyber-intelligence unit, 8200. After the institution announced a “strategic partnership” with Israel successful January 2024, its engagement successful Gaza and the occupied West Bank expanded considerably. Using a premix of intercepted communications, outer worldly and different integer information sources, Palantir began integrating these inputs to assistance nutrient targeting databases – effectively, “kill lists” – for the Israeli military.

It has besides cultivated adjacent ties with US information agencies, peculiarly during the Trump administration, of which Thiel has been an enthusiastic backer, and has besides worked with Israel successful its concern of the West Bank and genocide successful Gaza.

According to its critics, including the rights radical Amnesty International, “Palantir has a way grounds of flagrantly disregarding planetary instrumentality and standards, some successful the violations of the quality rights of migrants successful the United States, to which it risks contributing to, and its ongoing proviso of artificial quality (AI) products and services to the Israeli subject and quality services that are linked to Israel’s ongoing genocide successful Gaza.”

CEO Alex Karp founded Palantir with Peter Thiel, with concern from the CIA, successful 2003 [File: Thibault Camus/AP Photo]

What precisely has Palantir been accused of successful Israel and the US?

Palantir Technologies has faced disapproval crossed the satellite for its enabling of authorities surveillance and subject systems successful the US and Israel.

In the US, it has been accused of supporting migration enforcement and policing tools that aggregate immense idiosyncratic datasets, including aesculapian information, enabling profiling and raising owed process and privateness concerns. In Israel, critics allege that its AI and information platforms person been utilized successful subject operations successful Gaza, perchance contributing to the targeting decisions that person underpinned Israel’s genocide there.

Responding to questions from Al Jazeera earlier this year, a spokesperson for Palantir said, “As a company, Palantir does enactment Israel. We’ve chosen to enactment them due to the fact that of the appalling events of October 7th. And much broadly, we’ve chosen to enactment them due to the fact that we judge successful supporting the West and its allies – and Israel is an important state of the West.” The spokesperson was referring to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught connected Israel, aft which Israel launched its genocidal warfare connected Gaza.

Why station the ‘manifesto’ now?

Palantir’s authorities and alarm implicit its power are increasing and gaining traction crossed overmuch of the West.

As good arsenic interest among US Democrats, politicians successful Germany, Ireland, and successful the European Parliament person criticised the tech giant, whose products, according to 1 German lawmaker and cyber information expert, person fallen abbreviated of information standards crossed the bloc.

In the UK, the enactment implicit the National Health Service’s adoption of Palantir exertion has led to immoderate of the fiercest disapproval yet. MPs calling for the UK to instrumentality vantage of an aboriginal interruption successful the tech giant’s 330 million-pound ($446.4m) declaration with the wellness work labelled Palantir “dreadful” and “shameful” successful a statement past week, aft which adjacent the authorities conceded that it was “no fan” of the US company’s politics.

Louis Mosley, the caput of Palantir Technologies UK, defended the institution by arguing that it had nary involvement successful diligent information and existed lone arsenic a instrumentality to amended negociate wellness work resources.