Palantir has cultivated a fervent online following, with dedicated subreddits, the largest boasting over 100,000 members. On social media platforms like X, some accounts have built substantial audiences by focusing exclusively on the company.
This community often tracks the company’s stock price with an intensity reminiscent of sports fans following their team. Price surges and major contract wins are celebrated with similar enthusiasm, framing the purchase of company merchandise as an act of allegiance, akin to buying a team jersey.
The company’s fan base expanded during a period when its work with military and immigration enforcement contractors was highly unpopular in Silicon Valley. For its supporters, Palantir was a contrarian firm that adhered to its principles in the face of widespread criticism.
By positioning itself as a lifestyle brand, Palantir appears to be encouraging public identification with its mission. A note card signed by CEO Alex Karp, included with recent merchandise orders, makes this explicit: “Thank you for your dedication to Palantir and our mission to defend the West,” it reads. “The future belongs to those who believe and build. And we build to dominate.”
This sentiment is echoed by supporters. One fan, Eliano Younes, wrote on X that Palantir “isn’t just a software company. It’s a world view—western values, pro-warfighter, problem solving, conviction, dominant software, etc. that’s why people rep the gear.”
These values have historically been rejected within Silicon Valley. In 2018, thousands of Google employees protested the company’s involvement in Project Maven, a Pentagon AI initiative for analyzing drone footage, leading Google not to renew the contract. That same year, Palantir faced protests in Palo Alto over its work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
However, the climate in the tech industry is shifting toward a more open alignment with the military. This change was symbolized in June when the U.S. Army commissioned a group of technology executives as honorary lieutenant colonels. The group included Palantir’s Chief Technology Officer, Shyam Sankar, alongside executives from Meta and OpenAI.
Palantir’s merchandise store appears to capitalize on this evolving sentiment, reinforcing the company’s long-standing, and once-controversial, mission. In an April letter to shareholders, Karp addressed this history, noting that the company’s mission “was for years dismissed as politically fraught and ill-advised.”
He added: “We, the heretics, this motley band of characters, were cast out and nearly discarded by Silicon Valley. And yet there are signs that some within the Valley have now turned a corner and begun following our lead.”
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