In the midst of corruption scandals involving government figures and other right-wing supporters of President Javier Milei, billionaire businessman Peter Thiel, one of the most influential figures in the American technological system, arrives in Argentina with the unconfessed objective of supporting the long-haired president with the rectification of his libertarian policy and showing him the way to control citizens.

Co-founder of Palantir Technologies, a platform for collecting enormous volumes of data that operates with artificial intelligence (AI), Thiel wants to settle in Argentina and his purchase of a property in Buenos Aires generates concern beyond the mere economic sphere, both in civil and human rights organizations, as well as in Argentine observers and analysts.

Thiel defines himself, like the Argentine president, Javier Milei, as "anarcho-capitalist" and "enemy of the State", turning Argentina into a laboratory in this regard.

Thiel's presence draws special attention, because the Milei Government claims individual freedom, but, at the same time, is promoting the creation of databases and virtual mirrors for citizen control, as the visitor has very controversial definitions regarding democracy, dissociating it from freedom.

DIRTY PALANTIR

Palantir was behind the kidnapping and transfer to the US of the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and the procedures against migrants by the US repressive authorities, using data that cross-references bases from innumerable sources, such as GPS navigation, webcams, and social networks, and that Thiel is in Argentina and has even had meetings with Milei and with ministers evidences the intention of Donald Trump's government to consolidate its correspondent in the tangle of artificial intelligence and digital media.

The company sold services for 700 million dollars to the CIA, the FBI, and NASA. And for one billion dollars to the US Department of Security.

Already last month Milei had announced the creation of the "Social Digital Twin" program, an AI platform that will integrate large volumes of personal data on health, mobility and even participation in protests, in order to simulate social scenarios and predict their impact, and, in this context, Thiel arrives in the country to "educate" the libertarian in better control of public information security policy.

In this framework, Thiel's presence occurs with a narrative from the extreme right that touches on issues that worry many people, such as the danger that Argentina runs of losing the discussion in democratic terms, because many are demanding answers to the problems of insecurity, or the facilitation of public procedures, and they do not care about surveillance in this sense, notes the German agency Deutsche Welle.

NO DATA GOVERNANCE

Some time ago, warnings were raised about the historical lack of interoperability between public databases, for example, those of ministries, to which cybersecurity problems are added.

With his second reform to the National Intelligence Law by decree, Milei allowed secret service agents to operate without judicial oversight or due legal procedures under the pretext of national security.

Security forces were also enabled to carry out cyber patrols on social networks or in open web areas.

All of this raises concern about possible agreements between the State and surveillance and data management companies, such as Peter Thiel's, questioned for having used their capabilities in actions such as repression, persecution of migrants and other abuses. Furthermore, this is aggravated by their public positions, which are perceived as favorable to practices that contribute to the deterioration of democracy globally and in Argentina.

Likewise, it warns of the fact that the State is becoming increasingly opaque, controls on the acquisition of technological tools with a greater possibility of controlling people and conducting illegal intelligence are weakened.

Another important aspect is the possibility that the data of Argentine citizens is transferred to the United States, also, supposedly, without due controls, within the framework of the Agreement between the United States and Argentina on Reciprocal Trade and Investment (ARTI), signed on February 5.

All of this virtually offers an affirmative answer to the question of whether Palantir will be used in the repression of protests in Argentina.