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 92 points 20 hours ago (9 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.

[–] zeezee@slrpnk.net 14 points 13 hours 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"

[–] Tweak@lemmy.world 16 points 14 hours 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 3 points 9 hours 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 2 points 12 hours ago

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

It's the hair!

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 12 hours ago

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

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 6 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

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

[–] blurb@sh.itjust.works 22 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (2 children)
[–] end_stage_ligma@lemmy.world 12 points 14 hours 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

[–] raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago

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.

[–] vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 14 hours 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.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 15 points 19 hours 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 9 points 17 hours 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.

[–] lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 hours ago

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!

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago

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

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 5 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

So basically imagine musk but worse but not as lucky.

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 11 points 17 hours ago

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

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 18 points 19 hours 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 17 hours ago

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