{"id":19754,"date":"2026-04-21T10:03:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T09:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=19754"},"modified":"2026-04-21T10:03:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T09:03:05","slug":"technofacism-why-palantirs-pro-west-manifesto-has-critics-alarmed-technology-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=19754","title":{"rendered":"Technofacism? Why Palantir\u2019s pro-West \u2018manifesto\u2019 has critics alarmed | Technology News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The US tech giant Palantir Technologies has posted what it terms a summary of Palantir CEO Alex Karp and head of corporate affairs Nicholas Zamiska\u2019s book, The Technological Republic, on social media.<\/p>\n

Many of the positions articulated in the book go far beyond what would normally be expected of a tech company: calling for the introduction of national service, the \u201cmoral\u201d duty of technology companies to participate in defence, the necessity for hard power if what it calls free and democratic powers are to prevail, and an embrace of religion in public life.<\/p>\n

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The publication of what appears to be a 22-point manifesto comes at a critical time for Palantir, which faces global criticism for its support of US President Donald Trump\u2019s controversial immigration crackdown and its backing of the Israeli military\u2019s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n

Many have expressed alarm<\/a> at the book\u2019s emphasis on cultural hierarchies and what it calls \u201cregressive\u201d cultures.<\/p>\n

Eliot Higgins, the founder of the online investigations platform Bellingcat, sarcastically pointed out how \u201ccompletely normal\u201d it was for a tech company to post what he said was a manifesto attacking democratic norms. \u201cIt\u2019s also worth being clear about who\u2019s doing the arguing,\u201d Higgins added. \u201cPalantir sells operational software to defence, intelligence, immigration & police agencies. These 22 points aren\u2019t philosophy floating in space, they\u2019re the public ideology of a company whose revenue depends on the politics it\u2019s advocating.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, what is Palantir, why is it so controversial, and why has it posted the \u201cmanifesto\u201d now?<\/p>\n

What does the book say?<\/h2>\n

As well as referring to the hard power needed to replace the \u201csoaring rhetoric\u201d previously used to defend \u201cfree and democratic societies\u201d, the book rails against what it calls the \u201cpsychologization of modern politics\u201d, which appears to criticise anyone the authors feel has become too emotionally invested in their political representatives and identity.<\/p>\n

The call for people to care less about politics appears to critics as a way of deflecting from Palantir\u2019s own controversial political positions and its openness to working with government policies that clamp down on liberty. Worryingly for some is also the book\u2019s emphasis on what it calls the technology sector\u2019s \u201cobligation to participate in the defence of the nation\u201d, and on the supposed inevitability of developing AI weapons.<\/p>\n

Among other points, the writers appear to defend billionaires, such as Elon Musk, whose achievements, they say, are not met with \u201ccuriosity or genuine interest\u201d but are instead dismissed by those who \u201csnicker\u201d at the South African-born businessman. Musk was heavily criticised for his role as the head of DOGE, or the US Department for Government Efficiency, which scrapped several government agencies without much regard for the roles those agencies played, or the legal and political process necessary to shut such agencies down.<\/p>\n

Palantir\u2019s post concludes by criticising \u201cthe shallow temptation of a vacant and hollow pluralism\u201d. It argues that an unthinking commitment to inclusivity and pluralism \u201cglosses over the fact that certain cultures and indeed subcultures\u2026 have produced wonders. Others have proven middling, and worse, regressive and harmful\u201d.<\/p>\n

How have people reacted?<\/h2>\n

Not well.<\/p>\n

Mark Coeckelbergh, a Belgian philosopher of technology who teaches at the University of Vienna, described Palantir\u2019s messaging as an \u201cexample of technofascism\u201d, while Greek economist and former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Palantir had effectively signalled a willingness \u201cto add to nuclear Armageddon the AI-driven threat to humanity\u2019s existence\u201d.<\/p>\n

Posting on social media, Arnaud Bertrand, the entrepreneur and geopolitical commentator, claimed that Palantir had revealed a dangerous \u201cideological agenda\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re effectively saying \u2018our tools aren\u2019t meant to serve your foreign policy. They\u2019re meant to enforce ours\u2019,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

What is Palantir?<\/h2>\n

Palantir Technologies is widely regarded as one of the world\u2019s most influential data analytics firms, securing major contracts with governments, militaries and global corporations.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2003 by Alex Karp and Peter Thiel, with support from In-Q-Tel,<\/a> the CIA\u2019s venture capital arm, it built its early business on post-9\/11 intelligence work and has since expanded internationally, with contracts across Europe, the Middle East, and beyond.<\/p>\n

While retaining his shares in Palantir, Thiel is understood to no longer play an active role in its day-to-day operations. Karp has positioned himself as the public face of the company.<\/p>\n

Under Karp\u2019s leadership, Palantir has drawn heavily on the expertise of former members of Israel\u2019s cyber-intelligence unit, 8200. After the company announced a \u201cstrategic partnership\u201d with Israel in January 2024, its involvement in Gaza and the occupied West Bank expanded considerably. Using a mix of intercepted communications, satellite material and other digital data sources, Palantir began integrating these inputs to help produce targeting databases \u2013 effectively, \u201ckill lists\u201d \u2013 for the Israeli military.<\/p>\n

It has also cultivated close ties with US security agencies, particularly during the Trump administration, of which Thiel has been an enthusiastic backer, and has also worked with Israel in its occupation of the West Bank and genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n

According to its critics, including the rights group Amnesty International, \u201cPalantir has a track record of flagrantly disregarding international law and standards, both in the violations of the human rights of migrants in the United States, to which it risks contributing to, and its ongoing supply of artificial intelligence (AI) products and services to the Israeli military and intelligence services that are linked to Israel\u2019s ongoing genocide in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FILE
CEO Alex Karp founded Palantir with Peter Thiel, with investment from the CIA, in 2003 [File: Thibault Camus\/AP Photo]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What exactly has Palantir been accused of in Israel and the US?<\/h2>\n

Palantir Technologies has faced criticism across the world for its enabling of government surveillance and military systems in the US and Israel.<\/p>\n

In the US, it has been accused of supporting immigration enforcement and policing tools that aggregate vast personal datasets, including medical information, enabling profiling and raising due process and privacy concerns. In Israel, critics allege that its AI and data platforms have been used in military operations in Gaza, potentially contributing to the targeting decisions that have underpinned Israel\u2019s genocide there.<\/p>\n

Responding to questions from Al Jazeera earlier this year, a spokesperson for Palantir said, \u201cAs a company, Palantir does support Israel. We\u2019ve chosen to support them because of the appalling events of October 7th. And more broadly, we\u2019ve chosen to support them because we believe in supporting the West and its allies \u2013 and Israel is an important ally of the West.\u201d The spokesman was referring to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, after which Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.<\/p>\n

Why post the \u2018manifesto\u2019 now?<\/h2>\n

Palantir\u2019s politics and alarm over its influence are growing and gaining traction across much of the West.<\/p>\n

As well as concern among US Democrats, politicians in Germany, Ireland, and in the European Parliament have criticised the tech giant, whose products, according to one German lawmaker and cyber security expert, have fallen short of security standards across the bloc.<\/p>\n

In the UK, the row over the National Health Service\u2019s adoption of Palantir technology has led to some of the fiercest criticism yet. MPs calling for the UK to take advantage of an early break in the tech giant\u2019s 330 million-pound ($446.4m) contract with the health service labelled Palantir \u201cdreadful\u201d and \u201cshameful\u201d in a debate last week, after which even the government conceded that it was \u201cno fan\u201d of the US company\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n

Louis Mosley, the head of Palantir Technologies UK, defended the company by arguing that it had no interest in patient data and existed only as a tool to better manage health service resources.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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The US tech giant Palantir Technologies has posted what it terms a summary of Palantir CEO Alex Karp and head of corporate affairs Nicholas Zamiska\u2019s book, The Technological Republic, on social media. Many of the positions articulated in the book go far beyond what would normally be expected of a tech company: calling for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-explained"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}