Palantir manifesto declares some cultures ‘harmful’ as lawmakers demand answers on surveillance tools

Palantir Technologies, a data analytics company deeply embedded in U.S. military, intelligence and law enforcement operations, published a 22-point manifesto on X stating that some cultures are “regressive and harmful” while arguing that technology companies must support U.S. military power. The post, which has accumulated more than 32 million views, appeared four days after Democratic lawmakers demanded answers about a government surveillance network the company built and operates.

Drawing from CEO Alex Karp and Nicholas Zamiska’s 2025 book “The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West,” the manifesto outlines a rigid worldview on culture, technology, and the necessity of state power.

One notable passage argues that commitment to pluralism and inclusivity “glosses over the fact that certain cultures and indeed subcultures… have produced wonders. Others have proven middling, and worse, regressive and harmful.” It does not specify which cultures it considers harmful or by what measure. A separate point declares that the West has “for the past half century resisted defining national cultures in the name of inclusivity” and asks: “But inclusion into what?”

The manifesto also argues that the “engineering elite” of Silicon Valley has spent decades building “obsession-driven apps” while failing to contribute to national defense. “Free email is not enough,” it states. On AI warfare: “The question is not whether A.I. weapons will be built; it is who will build them and for what purpose.”

Additional points call for reconsidering postwar military limits on Germany and Japan, propose a shift from an all-volunteer military toward broader national service, and argue that public servants, including doctors and teachers, should be paid competitively rather than expected to serve out of idealism.

The post drew immediate and widespread condemnation in its reactions, with several commenters challenging the premise that a software contractor constituted an “engineering elite” with a moral obligation to direct national defense policy. Others raised the structure of the manifesto itself as disqualifying. “22 points on how to save Western civilization, written by a defense contractor who profits from the wars they’re describing,” one commenter noted. “Totally unbiased manifesto bro.”

A recurring concern was the act of a private company publishing political doctrine at all. “Companies should not be publishing manifestos on how our societies should operate and function,” one commenter wrote. “The act of private companies attempting to take on the role of government and/or policy construction should be seen as a threat to national security and the Western way of life.” Another put it more concisely: “You forget you are a company, not the moral compass of a free world.”

Palantir Technologies was founded in 2003 by CEO Alex Karp and Peter Thiel, a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump and a long-time mentor to Vice President JD Vance. These ties have coincided with the company’s expansion from a technology vendor into a permanent fixture of the federal government.

Palantir has previously faced federal scrutiny tied to its status as a government contractor. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor reached a $1.7 million settlement with the company over allegations that it discriminated against Asian job applicants during hiring, claims Palantir denied while agreeing to resolve the case.

Palantir’s military footprint includes the Maven Smart System, an artificial intelligence platform used to analyze surveillance data for targeting and operational decisions. The Pentagon moved to formalize Maven as a permanent program of record in March. The company also recently secured a $300 million USDA agreement to centralize agricultural records through the “One Farmer, One File” initiative. Last year, ICE awarded Palantir a $30 million contract to develop ImmigrationOS, a tool for enforcement workflows, including the tracking of visa overstays, self-deportation monitoring and the integration of diverse government datasets.

On April 14, days before the manifesto was posted, Democratic lawmakers led by Dan Goldman (D-NY-10) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement requesting information on Palantir-developed systems.

According to the letter, those systems allow officials to “compile, aggregate, and analyze large volumes of personal data” and link individuals to addresses, phone numbers, devices and other identifiers across datasets. The same document describes a broader network of surveillance tools used by DHS and ICE, including facial recognition, social media monitoring and cellphone tracking technologies that “appear to operate in conjunction with Palantir-developed platforms.”

The letter raised particular concern about whether those systems collect or retain data on U.S. citizens, and referenced reports that facial recognition technology operating in conjunction with Palantir platforms had been used to scan people observing or protesting immigration enforcement operations.