527. Are American Tech Billionaires Threatening British Democracy?

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The Rest Is Politics 52 min 2 speakers 6 chapters transcribed 4 months ago
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

Alastair Campbell 0:00
Thanks for listening to The Rest Is Politics. To support the podcast, listen without the adverts and get early access to episodes and live show tickets, go to therestispolitics.com. That's therestispolitics.com.
Rory Stewart 0:13
A lot of people feel very, very angry about a U.S. company connected to defense and CIA getting their hands on British data. Would Palantir be prepared to set up an independent European subsidiary, which couldn't be instructed by the White House suddenly to switch off all access?
Alastair Campbell 0:31
Why is a company publishing a manifesto, argues it's a moral duty for tech firms to build weapons? Can't.
Rory Stewart 0:39
He's somebody who believes that the world is out to get him and out to get the West.
Alastair Campbell 0:45
I think the public feel very, very scared that guys like this are right at the heart of the wars in the Middle East, right at the heart of Ukraine. Are these the people that now have not just economic power, but are developing military power as well? Isn't that a bit scary? This episode is brought to you by Fuse Energy.
Rory Stewart 1:06
Energy policy rarely stays in Westminster for long, usually a rise for the bill.

What are the concerns surrounding Palantir's involvement in British data?

Rory Stewart 1:11
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Alastair Campbell 1:35
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Rory Stewart 2:02
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Alastair Campbell 2:43
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Alastair Campbell 3:04
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Rory Stewart 3:26
Welcome to the Restless Politics Question Time with me, Rory Stewart. And me, Alastair Campbell. Well, we've got a lot of really interesting questions this week. We're going to begin with a conversation about Palantir, under a lot of scrutiny and criticism recently of this enormous American tech company having access to all this data and what does it do with this data. We're then going to get into the issue of why the Foreign Office has closed its international humanitarian law section. We're going to talk about mental health, young people, Gen Z, including the question of how people reported the war in Gaza, the language they used, the types of adjectives they used, and the way in which bias can be identified simply almost through sampling statistics of the use of words.
Rory Stewart 4:13
Now, where do you want to start?
Alastair Campbell 4:14
Andrea Michalsia, what do you think about Palantir's impact so far globally?

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