‘If we don’t fight back, we don’t have a future’: the journalist taking on the ‘tech fascists’ of Silicon Valley
As Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and their peers have grown richer and more influential, Gil Durán argues they have all but abandoned democracy – and found the perfect government to enable them
In April, Gil Durán was permanently banned from Elon Musk’s X for posting just two words. Durán was responding to a post from the tech company Palantir outlining its 22‑point “technological manifesto”, which praised American “hard power”, western culture and AI weapons, denounced inclusivity and called for compulsory national service. Durán responded: “TLDR: Fascism” (TLDR is short for “too long, didn’t read”).
Durán didn’t break any of X’s written rules, he points out o
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‘If we don’t fight back, we don’t have a future’: the journalist taking on the ‘tech fascists’ of Silicon Valley
As Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and their peers have grown richer and more influential, Gil Durán argues they have all but abandoned democracy – and found the perfect government to enable them
In April, Gil Durán was permanently banned from Elon Musk’s X for posting just two words. Durán was responding to a post from the tech company Palantir outlining its 22‑point “technological manifesto”, which praised American “hard power”, western culture and AI weapons, denounced inclusivity and called for compulsory national service. Durán responded: “TLDR: Fascism” (TLDR is short for “too long, didn’t read”).
Durán didn’t break any of X’s written rules, he points out over a video call from San Francisco – so much for Musk’s “free-speech absolutism”. His ban might just have had something to do with his preceding tweet, showing the cover of his new book, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy. The book’s central argument is that big tech is no longer our friend, as many of its billionaire owners have seized economic and political control and are steering the fate of the planet towards their own bizarre, apocalyptic visions.
Fascism is no exaggeration, Durán asserts. He researched multiple definitions – by Umberto Eco, Robert Paxton, Jason Stanley – and decided that Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (Maga) movement ticks all the boxes. “It’s a cult of grievance that seeks to purge its enemies by demonising them through absurd and surreal propaganda that exploits fears over law and order and gender and sexuality in order to seize power and install a permanent hierarchy that fascists consider the moral order of the world and the universe. In addition, you also have this sort of nationalistic, militaristic vibe.” ...
#ElonMusk learned from watching #DonaldTrump. #Trump learned from #RoyCohn. Cohn--“a legal executioner—the toughest, meanest, loyalest, vilest, and one of the most brilliant lawyers in #America.” (#Esquire magazine, 1978 1)) had learned from reading #JosephGoebbels.
It's the same playbook. Lie. Repeat. Go all in. All the time: 👉Double down. Deflect. Distract. Repeat for eternity.👈
With a huge backlash now against #Datacenters (ex-China,) at least in the Western World, and energy supply being a strong limitational, factor, as #ElonMusk explained in his recent long #TheEconomist interview, I don't...
After The Economist’s interview with Elon Musk, will major media finally reassess how they cover the fascist billionaire?
As its editor-in-chief did the rounds saying she was “not a Musk hater,” he was on X calling her a traitor to the West and suggesting she be murdered. Please, have some dignity.
Elon Musk says X’s codebase will be made open source. "Once we have completed our review for security vulnerabilities, we will make the entire codebase of 𝕏 open source, with no exceptions."
This is not the first time Musk has tried to roleplay as an open source advocate. I do not trust him one bit. What is there to gain and why on earth would he do that? I would be glad if he does, I am curious to know how they have weighted their algorithms and messed up their features.
Along with his usual morning tweets in support of right-wing politics, against certain immigrants to the US, and boosting data centers, the sometimes-trillionaire writes, “Once we have completed our review for security vulnerabilities, we will make t…
"The Internet is changing again", yeah, and not for the better.
By 2026, X has basically turned into a data-mining pool for Musk's so-called "AI" and a shady copyright-violating porn platform.
Most people don't even realize that X Corp is now an indirect subsidiary of SpaceX. In 2025, X was merged into Musk's AI company, xAI, and then in February 2026, SpaceX acquired xAI through an all-stock deal.
Now, AI, space exploration, and social media all fall under one big corporate umbrella. This setup lets Musk dodge personal responsibility and also helps him avoid putting more of his own money toward X's liabilities.
