this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2025
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In 2023, the then-Conservative government awarded Palantir with a £330m contract to “build a new NHS data platform”. The move proved controversial because Palantir is a US spy tech firm and its co-founder Peter Thiel is a prominent Trump donor with links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Now, a trove of leaked emails have shone further light on Thiel’s connections.

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[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 93 points 2 days ago (11 children)

I assume y’all on the other side of the pond are just learning about Palantir for the first time and that’s why you’re looking for bombshell headlines. I can assure you as someone from Silicon Valley that there is literally no single headline that can possibly convey the pure evil that is Peter Thiel. He literally believes that it is morally and, from his perspective, objectively correct that a few pre-selected technocrat elites (his words) should rule city-states that “compete” with each other. He is currently miserably failing at building a libertarian “eutopia” (his words) out in the desert to the east of San Francisco. He promises it would be done by this year. It hasn’t even started.

He founded PayPal and got mad when he immediately learned that banks exist for a reason. He was such a piece of shit that Elon Musk couldn’t work with him.

[–] GorGor@startrek.website 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

the desert to the east of San Francisco.

Lol what the fuck? I assume you are taking about California Forever but desert is a weird word to describe the Sacramento River delta. It is one of the largest estuaries in north america.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 22 hours ago

You’re right I mixed up the different cults in my head.

[–] Tweak@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Dude, the US has been lagging behind the UK for the last decade. We voted for Brexit because of Cambridge Analytica, then you voted Trump for the first time because of Cambridge Analytica. We voted for Boris in 2019, you got Trump again in 2024. We're probably going to vote in Nigel Farage next and then the US will be like "Hold my beer!"

Palantir is just another symptom of this wider problem.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago

Ok, but hear me out: what if we got Nigel Farage in a 10 gallon hat with Liz Truss in a 10 gallon hat for VP.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

We voted for Boris in 2019, you got Trump again in 2024.

It's the hair!

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 days ago

What a weird comment... Yeah guy, you did all the shitty things first I guess?

[–] zeezee@slrpnk.net 15 points 2 days ago

uhm idk who's not familiar with Thiel but the blueprint of his "utopia" - "The Sovereign Individual" was literally co-written by no other than William Rees-Mogg a conservative house of lords cross-bencher who's also the father of two other conservative MPs that have served in the UK Parliament.

the 2014 reprint of the book has a foreword by Thiel, where he says that it's "the most influential book he had read"

so as usual the theoretical frameworks have been drafted in the heart of empire and implemented in the "land of the free"

[–] frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Well, Elon wouldn't work with him because Elon had a shitty idea that Thiel said was shitty and wouldn't let Elon do it. Elon was forced to settle for becoming filthy rich.

That project is where the name "X" originally comes from.

[–] blurb@sh.itjust.works 23 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)
[–] end_stage_ligma@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

It is an ideal belief system for soi-disant libertarians who realize that, regardless of the principles of freedom being the ostensible foundation of their ideology, they are unwilling to tolerate others' enjoyment of freedom.

pretty much

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Wikipedia classifies him as a "thinker". Does your wiki entry classify you as a thinker? Check and mate, lib.

[–] umbraroze@slrpnk.net 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Being a "thinker" isn't exactly a high bar. A fish can do it (depending on the definition). I mean I suppose I can think, but I wouldn't brag about it.

if you have nothing worth bragging about, resorting to basic functions of sapient life for clout is the best you can do. I'm a thinker too. I'm also a breather, an eater and plenty moee things that aren't special.

I've got some actual achievements too, such as being a former piece of shit, so I've actually got a leg up on him!

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Palantir has been here for years and the police, healthcare and MOD already use them.

[–] vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 2 days ago

I can assure you as someone from Silicon Valley that there is literally no single headline that can possibly convey the pure evil that is Peter Thiel. He literally believes that ...

Fuck, you spoiled my plan to drop a nuke there.

The first time? Hardly, for anyone who can read and find proper news sources. I've been telling people for years that the most dangerous people in the fascist middle northern america are not in the white house, but in the silicon valley - and that the most evil motherfucker is Peter Thiel.

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

unfortunately not because Palantir will be handling the NHS data. what a shit show.

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

So basically imagine musk but worse but not as lucky.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

He made Musk’s fortune for him. It’s an asshole-eating-asshole circle. I highly recommend this podcast series about him.

[–] shads@lemy.lol 4 points 2 days ago

I knew what that was going to be before I checked the link. I see you are a cultured individual.

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 9 points 2 days ago

They are both linked through their families colonizing history in South Africa, including staunch Nazi support in their families.