At the beginning of the 21st century, Silicon Valley became the cradle of artificial intelligence development, the IT industry, and, above all, tools for new warfare strategies. Alongside the expansion of platforms like Facebook and Twitter—allegedly developed by “brilliant students”—which served as data-harvesting vacuums, technology for processing and utilizing this data was also evolving, often turning it against the very users who generated it.
META-MEDIA IN THE SERVICE OF INTEREST GROUPS
Suspicions that U.S. intelligence agencies were behind the creation of these platforms were confirmed during the last U.S. elections. These platforms were not just spaces for socializing, meeting new people, and unwittingly revealing one’s deepest secrets to those meticulously collecting them. They also served as meta-media—a tool through which governments, organizations, and individuals attempted to push specific narratives. True to their nature, users played right into this system. There was no shortage of material—what was needed was someone to process it.
Not far from the usual hustle and bustle of data marketplaces like Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, and similar startups, another company quietly emerged—Palantir—a powerful weapon in the hands of Western intelligence services.
The American and global public were led to believe that this was a harmless yet revolutionary data-processing company, founded in 2003 among a sea of similar firms. One of its listed founders was Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook. However, available data suggests that Palantir was established through In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s investment fund.
THE CHAIN: PAYPAL – STARLINK – PALANTIR
The In-Q-Tel investment fund was founded just before the IT sector boom in Silicon Valley. Established in 1999 by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), its purpose was to finance and develop private technology companies that would serve U.S. intelligence interests. Instead of creating companies themselves, intelligence agencies chose to acquire young, talented experts and their technologies—such as Palantir. According to available information, In-Q-Tel invested millions of dollars into Palantir during its early development, enabling the company’s rapid expansion into military and intelligence sectors.
While Peter Thiel is often credited as its “founder,” Palantir is also backed by Alex Karp (CEO), Nathan Gettings, and Joe Lonsdale, who were among the company’s first engineers. However, what many overlook today is that years ago, Thiel and Elon Musk were partners on the PayPal project. Moreover, Palantir would not hold its current strategic role without Starlink, which is owned by Musk. Another crucial link between Musk and Palantir is that he owns the social network that was the first to break free from censorship, offering its users a space to “completely bare their souls.”
THE TECHNOLOGY THAT ELIMINATED BIN LADEN
Among the many similar companies, Palantir stands out also because its clients are, to say the least, unusual. Besides the CIA, which was its main investor, users of Palantir technology include the most powerful American institutions – the Pentagon, the FBI, and the National Security Agency. And that is only in the United States. If we “expand” the list of active clients, we will also find NATO, MI6, the European Union… Another peculiarity. The purpose of Palantir goes a step further and is primarily of a military-intelligence nature. According to a research-analytical report by the Russian intelligence company “R-Techno,” signed by Roman Romachov, one of the most well-known cases of the use of Palantir technology for military purposes was the elimination of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in 2011.
In this operation, Palantir’s Gotham platform played a key role in collecting, integrating, and visualizing data from a vast number of sources, including primarily communication channels, satellite images, field agent reports, and information from confidential sources. The software was already advanced enough at that time to enable CIA analysts, as well as other intelligence agencies involved in the operation, to identify and track behavior patterns that indicated the exact location of Osama Bin Laden’s hideout in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
OPERATION WITH MINIMAL RISK
The Gotham platform allowed analysts to discover and identify connections in real time between seemingly unrelated data, such as the movement of couriers, phone calls, and the movement of vehicles that supplied and serviced the hidden residence. Thanks to the in-depth analysis provided by Palantir, American special forces were able to plan the operation in detail, minimize risks, and successfully carry out the attack on May 2, 2011.
Additionally, another platform, Apollo, which is also part of Palantir technology, ensured stability and rapid updates of software solutions during the operation itself, which was essential for the precision and accuracy of the data. Romachov, however, in his analysis goes a step further with the claim that Palantir technology was used for intelligence gathering even earlier – in 2008 in Georgia to detect cyberattacks on the then-regime. Then, that it was crucial in uncovering the Chinese spy network Shadow Network in 2010, as well as that Palantir was key in identifying hackers who stole money from accounts at JPMorgan and Bank of America.
TRACES ON THE BATTLEFIELDS OF SYRIA AND LIBYA
It is no secret that these technologies, albeit in a much simpler form, are used daily for maintaining public order and preventing major incidents.
There are indications that Palantir was also used during the wars in Syria and Libya. The case of Libya is particularly interesting, as it transformed almost overnight from a country with the highest living standards in Africa and one of the region’s most stable economies into a victim of internal conflicts and international aggression. Besides being used for integrating and processing data on infrastructure, military targets, and communications, it is highly likely that Palantir was also employed in Libya for creating new trends designed to incite conflicts through media and specific groups.
Of course, the case of Libya remains a hypothesis put forward by analysts studying Palantir’s technologies in Ukraine, where it is already confirmed to be operating. In Ukraine, Palantir officially registered its company right at the start of the Special Military Operation.
A NEW ERA OF WARFARE
Palantir, with its platforms, is a perfect example of the new era of warfare—an age in which private corporations and algorithms, operating far from public scrutiny and democratic oversight, shape the destinies of entire nations and states. Today, Ukraine serves as a laboratory where new forms of hybrid warfare and AI-driven conflicts are being tested. The predictive capabilities of this technology have played a key role in generating new narratives, identifying what narratives the dissatisfied Ukrainian population would accept as a justification for the country’s poor socio-economic situation before the war. And Palantir has played a leading role in this process. The events in Ukraine should serve as a warning to all other states—the line between peace and war is now defined by algorithms. The boundaries of sovereignty, and more importantly, the real needs of the people versus artificially imposed needs through manipulated trends, are becoming increasingly blurred.
Palantir is just one of many companies demonstrating how seemingly harmless technological platforms can be used to shape the future of entire regions, with minimal direct accountability for the governments pulling the strings in the background and reaping the benefits. The world is only beginning to grasp the depth and far-reaching consequences of these changes, while the question of how free we will truly feel in the future remains unanswered.
