SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: The Dark Enlightenment
Big tech ideology, neo-reaction, eugenics rehabilitated as contrarianism, the Musk-Thiel-Yarvin axis, and the billionaire rejection of democratic governance.
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Reform UK’s Plans For a British ICE
Key figures in Nigel Farage’s party are demanding a UK version of Trump’s immigration enforcement agency, in the wake of the killings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good
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‘Domestic Terrorism’: ICE Contractor Palantir’s Tools for Tracking Dissent
Peter Thiel’s controversial data firm – which holds contracts with the UK’s NHS and Ministry of Defence – researched protest prediction for the US Army before agreeing to build ICE’s data platform to conduct mass deportation. Are its tools now targeting democratic dissent as well as illegal immigration?
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How YouTube’s Algorithm Pushed People Into Neo-Nazism
A new study reveals how the video sharing platform helped radicalise leading figures on the far right
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Inside the Silicon Valley Plot to Annex Venezuela for Oil That America Can’t Afford
Donald Trump’s decapitation of the Venezuelan Government opens the door to his Big Tech oligarch supporters’ dreams of creating an anti-democratic ‘Network State’ in the country, reports Nafeez Ahmed
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Trump and Musk Welcome Russian Propaganda After Sanctioning European Disinformation Experts
If there’s any question that the US is now more aligned with Russia rather than Europe, recent State Department decisions have removed all doubt
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Keir Starmer Says ‘All Options Are on the Table’ to Stop Elon Musk’s Grok Creating Deep Fakes of Children
The Prime Minister’s spokesman told Byline Times that X’s creation of sexual deep fakes was “completely unacceptable” but did not commit to direct action against the company
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The Musk-Trump Alliance Is Back as the White House Wields Diplomatic Power to Defend Big Tech Profits
Presented as a defence of free speech, the Trump administration’s visa sanctions on European regulators shield tech platform profits and undermine democratic regulation abroad
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Elon Musk Has Made X a Threat to Democracy and His War on the EU Proves It
Caroline Orr Bueno reports on how the billionaire X owner has turned Twitter into a tool for foreign interference which monetises and weaponises a global network of disinformation
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How Epstein Channelled Race Science and ‘Climate Culling’ Into Silicon Valley’s AI Elite
The Epstein files expose how racial hierarchy, genetic “optimisation” and even climate-driven population culling circulated inside Big Tech circles
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How Epstein Saved Bitcoin – and Accessed Trump’s Tech Inner Circle
Newly released emails show Epstein helped rescue Bitcoin’s core developers during a governance crisis – drawing him deeper into the Silicon Valley networks that would frame crypto as a way around democratic states
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How Epstein Infiltrated the Silicon Valley Network Behind Trump’s New Tech Order
Documents show Jeffrey Epstein was not cast out after his child sex-crime conviction but remained embedded in a confidential inner circle of Silicon Valley founders with strategic influence on the modern world, including Musk, Bezos, Brin, Page, Gates and Zuckerberg
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Maurice Glasman and Morgan McSweeney: The Bannon-Inspired ‘Blue Labour’ Lobby Behind Shabana Mahmood
A key supporter of the Home Secretary’s hard line on asylum seekers is also an admirer of Trump’s former campaign manager – one of Jeffrey Epstein’s closest confidantes
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‘No Faith’ in X and Meta to Tackle Abuse in Politics, Says Speaker’s Inquiry as It Suggests MPs Leave Platforms
Damning report finds social media giants are failing in legal duties to remove threats
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Inside Epstein’s Russian Tech Web: How Oligarch Cash and Three Women Connected Moscow to Silicon Valley
Leaked records obtained by Byline Times reveal how Kremlin-linked investors used Epstein’s network to channel oligarch money into Silicon Valley
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Pro-Trump Tech Billionaires Are Poised to Cash In on Gaza’s ‘Peace’ Deal
The same digital technologies that helped the Israeli military target Gazans are now being embedded in its peacetime infrastructure, with Trump-supporting billionaires poised to benefit
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The Great X-Tinction: Why My Time’s Up On Twitter
Otto English explains why, after 15 years, he has left the social media platform now disseminating disinformation worldwide under the control of Elon Musk
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‘Blue Labour’ and the Thiel Effect: How MAGA Is Making In-Roads Into British Politics
The ideology of the ‘Make America Great Again’ movement, which has transformed politics in the United States, is having an impact in the UK. But how is this influence being transmitted?
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Curtis Yarvin: How the Alt-Right Gets In
Following his appearance on a panel with Alastair Campbell, Byline Times examines the writings of the thinker who is apparently inspiring Silicon Valley Tech Bros and the Vice President of the United States
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Elon Musk Should Face ‘Full Force of the Law’ Says Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey
The Liberal Democrat leader tells Byline Times that Musk and his platform are inciting violence and breaking laws designed to protect children online
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Peter Thiel’s Race Science Network Extends Its Reach Into Reform UK, Conservatives and Labour
A Byline Times investigation can reveal how Donald Trump’s key backer is now exporting discredited race science into mainstream politics in the UK
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Give Big Fines to Firms Like X Promoting Hate and Disinformation, Democracy Groups Urge PM
Without radical change, voters will “give their support to demagogues and extremists who crave power to further their own ends” the authors warn
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‘My Government Must Quit Twitter and Call Out Elon Musk’s Far-Right Hate’
Labour MP Noah Law explains why it’s time for Keir Starmer to start treating the billionaire X owner as the ‘foreign extremist’ he now is
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From Epstein to Starmer: Mapping Peter Thiel’s Web of Influence in the UK
The tech billionaire Trump-backer is rapidly gaining influence over politics and public services in the UK, reports Peter Jukes
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Undue Influence: The Reform-Supporting Online Network Using AI to Monetise Anti-Migrant Hate
A prominent social media campaign for Brexit and Boris Johnson has morphed into a large-scale network boosting Reform and pushing anti-migrant hate, reports Katherine Denkinson
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Shock and Orr: Meet the Farage-Supporting ‘Philosopher King’ of British Authoritarianism
The Cambridge professor providing the intellectual underpinning for JD Vance and Nigel Farage, is described by one academic colleague as being ‘more Tommy Robinson than St Thomas Aquinas’
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The Trump Administration’s Partisan Global Human Rights Report Will Have ‘Devastating Consequences’
The Trump administration’s attempts to downplay human rights abuses globally suggests they want to make it easier to violate them domestically, argues Alexandra Hall Hall
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Inside the Hall of Mirrors: The Telegraph’s Dangerous Games Over Online Harms
The paper which acted ‘grossly irresponsibly’ during Covid is now doing the same thing with the Online Safety Act, argues Julian Petley
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European Threats to Free Speech? JD Vance Should Look in the Mirror
While the US Vice President warns about censorship, the CEO of Index on Censorship is again wary of visiting America after writing this piece
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Age-Gated: ‘How the Online Safety Act is Distorting Digital Activism’
Some platforms are blocking posts about Gaza and Ukraine, while more innocuous forums have also been restricted as websites ‘over-implement’ the new law
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Elon Musk Has Already Built an Interplanetary Colony: It’s Called X
Caroline Orr explains how Trump has enabled the algorithmic capture of social media platforms, resulting in stealth censorship
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The Online Safety Act is Forcing Brits to Hand Over Personal Data to ‘Unregulated’ Overseas Corporations With Questionable Privacy Records
The age verification services used by social media platforms include a company funded by a Trump-supporting billionaire and a firm set up by former Israeli intelligence officers
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‘Free Speech for the 0.1%: Why the Online Safety Act Is Failing’
This broken law isn’t only failing to prevent the spread of hate and misinformation, it’s actively protecting the ability of the most powerful and privileged to do so, argues Kyle Taylor
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Keir Starmer’s Government Still Hasn’t Reviewed Use of Musk’s X Despite Platform ‘Amplifying Hate Speech and Misinformation’
Downing Street continues to refuse to explore communicating through alternative platforms, like Bluesky, despite the role of X in last summer’s violent disorder
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‘Keir Starmer’s Government is Sleepwalking Britain Into the Grip of Trump-Supporting Big Tech’
The new ‘partnership’ between the UK Government and OpenAI is in reality a sellout to the one-sided interests of US tech corporations, argues Donald Campbell
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British Lords Under Fire for Serving on Hong Kong Court Which Sentences Democracy Activists, While Swearing Allegiance to China-Controlled Region
EXCLUSIVE: Peers earn tens of thousands of pounds from roles as Beijing tightens its grip, imprisoning journalists and human rights campaigners
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A Year Since the UK Riots, Elon Musk’s X Is Still ‘Profiting From Anti-Muslim and Anti-Migrant’ Hate
Report finds X is still failing to take down calls for violence against Muslims and migrants despite the messages “clearly violating” the platform’s own rules
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Palestine Action Ban Branded ‘Absurd and Dangerous’ as Group Asks High Court to Overturn Proscription
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the High Court in order to oppose the ban on the direct action group, Olly Haynes reports
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The Law That Will Allow the UK Government to Ban Palestine Action
The ban will make it illegal to support the civil disobedience group, with penalties of up to 10 years in prison
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Budapest Fights Back and Defies Orban’s Pride Ban With Largest Ever March
Viktor Orbán’s Government humiliated as more than 180,000 protesters defy his decision to ban Budapest Pride
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US Journalist Austin Tice’s Family Throw Doubt on Syrian Claim He Was Executed
An upcoming BBC podcast about the reporter’s disappearance in August 2012 has unearthed new details of his case – some of which his family has dismissed
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‘Geert Wilders Thought He Could Finally Push Through His Destructive Agenda – But He Ran Out Of Patience’
No government in recent history has produced so little new legislation – yet the damage caused is immense, writes Chris Keulemans
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‘Google’s Illegal Monopoly and How US Court Decision Comes at a Critical Time for UK and EU Policymakers’
A landmark antitrust decision against Google in the US will have profound iImplications for the digital economy in the UK and beyond, writes Stephen Kinsella and Tim Cowen
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‘The Supreme Court Trans Verdict Is a Victory for Uncertainty, Division and Harassment’
Far from bringing “clarity”, this verdict will only create confusion, while putting trans people at risk, argues Helen Belcher
