In 2011, Palantir and HBGary Federal drafted an attack plan targeting WikiLeaks on behalf of Bank of America, according to a post by the Julian Assange-founded organization on X.
Palantir spied on WikiLeaks’ servers, staff, and allies — tracking server migrations across the US and Europe.
They advocated a rapid assault on WikiLeaks, touting their expertise in cybersecurity, insider threats, targeting analysis, and social media manipulation.
Proposed tactics included:
- Fuel infighting: sow discord among WikiLeaks supporters.
- Spread disinformation: submit fake documents to WikiLeaks, then publicly expose the error.
- Undermine infrastructure confidence: plant stories questioning system security.
- Launch cyberattacks: unmask sources and document submitters.
- Discredit WikiLeaks: launch campaigns to paint the platform as “radical and reckless” to erode public trust.
- Discredit employees: social media profiling.
- Isolate WikiLeaks by cutting ties with prominent journalists: “Without the support of people like Glenn [Greenwald], WikiLeaks would fold.”
- Pressure WikiLeaks backers among established journalists: because if pushed, they would choose professional preservation over the WikiLeaks cause.
Palantir is a cracked copy of another AI program called Paradigm, which is a stable spreadsheet aggregator developed by a mathematician for peaceful purposes.