3 ms·

Why Everybody Hates Palantir

22 points by bookofjoe 2mo ago

bookofjoe 2mo ago
https://archive.ph/ahmBz https://archive.ph/ahmBz
- zhainya 2mo ago
  Why do these archive links never work for me?
  - AlbertoGP 2mo ago
    Might be your ISP's DNS censoring the domain name, it happens to me for different ones depending on whether I am in Spain or in Germany at the moment when I click the link. It might work if you manually change the TLD part of the URL. What I did was get the IP address when it worked and add it to "/etc/hosts" so it works when on another network.
    - ch_sm 2mo ago
      great tip, thanks!
Grombobulous 2mo ago
This article touches on something that I’ve been shouting from the rooftops whenever Palantir and Peter Thiel companies get discussed: Palantir is almost certainly “not that special.” It is fundamentally very boring data analysis software and its main differentiator is being available for/targeted at government clients. The company has committed major marketing blunders by giving itself a creepy vibe, which is a well-deserved reputation, down to the very name of the company. These errors are unnecessary and unforced self-sabotage. Palantir’s own marketing oversells the capabilities and in doing so also oversells the creepiness of the product. It’s also worth pointing out that Peter Thiel is not some kind of evil genius villain figure, he’s just a guy who got lucky off of PayPal and Facebook and has some garbage opinions. People like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk probably underestimate the damage their Bond villain reputations bring to their companies in the long term. Maybe they’ll never be financially impacted by that reputation but it’s very hard to see the what-if hypotheticals play out. For example, the refreshed Model Y, Ys, Model 3, and even Cybertruck should all be selling better than they are. About 1 in 10 Teslas I see on the road have one of those anti-Elon bumper stickers on them. These are customers who otherwise love the product that will never buy it again. Volkswagen Group is outselling Tesla in Europe and it’s hard to argue that brand reputation isn’t involved in that trend. Maybe this doesn’t matter because China is all Tesla cares about, and the vehicles still sell extremely well, but still…most car company CEOs are nameless figures that customers have no connection to.
- lesuorac 2mo ago
  Palantir is absolutely special. They're allowed to pay employees market rate.
- steve1977 2mo ago
  > The company has committed major marketing blunders by giving itself a creepy vibe, which is a well-deserved reputation, down to the very name of the company. These errors are unnecessary and unforced self-sabotage. I'm pretty sure this was very intentional and not a marketing blunder in any way. It has long been a shtick of Alex Karp to be vague in answering questions where and how Palantir software is used. I also don't think you can put Thiel and Musk, or rather Palantir and Tesla, in the same bucket here. Tesla wants and needs to sell to common people. Palantir doesn't.
  - helsinkiandrew 2mo ago
    > Tesla wants and needs to sell to common people. Palantir doesn't. But common people are also employees[1], voters[2] and shareholders[3] and are getting increasingly vocal: [1] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sandyacarter_with-ai-trust-isnt-lost-because-of-the-activity-7494769956329291776-C0pJ https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sandyacarter_with-ai-trust-is... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/09/mps-urge-labour-to-ditch-330m-palantir-software-contract-with-nhs https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/09/mps-urge-la... [3] https://www.barrons.com/articles/palantir-stock-price-human-rights-99fc4356 https://www.barrons.com/articles/palantir-stock-price-human-...
    - etempleton 2mo ago
      It is a risky strategy but if people believe they are creepy they believe they are powerful.
    - steve1977 2mo ago
      But from what I understand [1] USA Today is still using Palantir [2] This might have an effect in 2027 or it might not [3] The majority of shareholders still voted against that proposal So in the end, these people getting vocal has pretty much no real effect.

22 points by bookofjoe 2mo ago

bookofjoe 2mo ago

https://archive.ph/ahmBz https://archive.ph/ahmBz

zhainya 2mo ago
Why do these archive links never work for me?
- AlbertoGP 2mo ago
  Might be your ISP's DNS censoring the domain name, it happens to me for different ones depending on whether I am in Spain or in Germany at the moment when I click the link. It might work if you manually change the TLD part of the URL. What I did was get the IP address when it worked and add it to "/etc/hosts" so it works when on another network.
  - ch_sm 2mo ago
    great tip, thanks!

Grombobulous 2mo ago

This article touches on something that I’ve been shouting from the rooftops whenever Palantir and Peter Thiel companies get discussed: Palantir is almost certainly “not that special.” It is fundamentally very boring data analysis software and its main differentiator is being available for/targeted at government clients. The company has committed major marketing blunders by giving itself a creepy vibe, which is a well-deserved reputation, down to the very name of the company. These errors are unnecessary and unforced self-sabotage. Palantir’s own marketing oversells the capabilities and in doing so also oversells the creepiness of the product. It’s also worth pointing out that Peter Thiel is not some kind of evil genius villain figure, he’s just a guy who got lucky off of PayPal and Facebook and has some garbage opinions. People like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk probably underestimate the damage their Bond villain reputations bring to their companies in the long term. Maybe they’ll never be financially impacted by that reputation but it’s very hard to see the what-if hypotheticals play out. For example, the refreshed Model Y, Ys, Model 3, and even Cybertruck should all be selling better than they are. About 1 in 10 Teslas I see on the road have one of those anti-Elon bumper stickers on them. These are customers who otherwise love the product that will never buy it again. Volkswagen Group is outselling Tesla in Europe and it’s hard to argue that brand reputation isn’t involved in that trend. Maybe this doesn’t matter because China is all Tesla cares about, and the vehicles still sell extremely well, but still…most car company CEOs are nameless figures that customers have no connection to.

lesuorac 2mo ago
Palantir is absolutely special. They're allowed to pay employees market rate.
steve1977 2mo ago
> The company has committed major marketing blunders by giving itself a creepy vibe, which is a well-deserved reputation, down to the very name of the company. These errors are unnecessary and unforced self-sabotage. I'm pretty sure this was very intentional and not a marketing blunder in any way. It has long been a shtick of Alex Karp to be vague in answering questions where and how Palantir software is used. I also don't think you can put Thiel and Musk, or rather Palantir and Tesla, in the same bucket here. Tesla wants and needs to sell to common people. Palantir doesn't.
- helsinkiandrew 2mo ago
  > Tesla wants and needs to sell to common people. Palantir doesn't. But common people are also employees[1], voters[2] and shareholders[3] and are getting increasingly vocal: [1] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sandyacarter_with-ai-trust-isnt-lost-because-of-the-activity-7494769956329291776-C0pJ https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sandyacarter_with-ai-trust-is... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/09/mps-urge-labour-to-ditch-330m-palantir-software-contract-with-nhs https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/09/mps-urge-la... [3] https://www.barrons.com/articles/palantir-stock-price-human-rights-99fc4356 https://www.barrons.com/articles/palantir-stock-price-human-...
  - etempleton 2mo ago
    It is a risky strategy but if people believe they are creepy they believe they are powerful.
  - steve1977 2mo ago
    But from what I understand [1] USA Today is still using Palantir [2] This might have an effect in 2027 or it might not [3] The majority of shareholders still voted against that proposal So in the end, these people getting vocal has pretty much no real effect.