{"id":1049,"date":"2026-07-20T19:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049"},"modified":"2026-07-20T19:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:10:10","slug":"politico-owner-axel-springer-gives-prize-to-far-right-billionaire-peter-thiel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049","title":{"rendered":"Politico Owner Axel Springer Gives Prize to Far Right Billionaire Peter Thiel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n

Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with <\/span><\/i>a donation<\/span><\/i>.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Administration Slashes Visa Lengths for Students, Journalists<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

International media conglomerate Axel Springer, which owns multiple major news outlets, announced on Friday that it is awarding its 2026 Axel Springer Award to far right billionaire Peter Thiel, recognizing the Palantir co-founder for his \u201csocietal impact\u201d and entrepreneurial feats as his company seeks to build out a mass surveillance network across the U.S.<\/p>\n

The Axel Springer Award, the company says, \u201cpays tribute to a person who has created new markets, reshaped existing ones in an extraordinary way, and left a lasting mark on the technological, economic, and societal debates of our time.\u201d The press release on the announcement recognizes him for his co-founding of PayPal as well as for his work in creating Palantir, which it praises as \u201cone of the most valuable companies of our time and one that is crucial to the resilience of democracies.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the past, the company has awarded its prize, which is non-monetary, to other right-wing tech giants like Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Sam Altman. The company intends to hold a ceremony for the prize on September 24 in Berlin, and will reportedly include remarks by Bari Weiss, the right-wing, pro-Israel editor-in-chief of CBS News<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Axel Springer is a Germany-based media conglomerate that owns Politico<\/em> and Business Insider<\/em>, as well as The Telegraph<\/em> in the U.K. <\/p>\n

Earlier this year, it was found that the company\u2019s CEO, Mathias D\u00f6pfner, was compelling Politico<\/em> employees to follow its corporate values, which include supporting the \u201cprinciples of a free market economy,\u201d as well as \u201cthe right of existence of the State of Israel.\u201d The move was done in response to concerns expressed by Politico<\/em> journalists over the outlet\u2019s editorial integrity in relation to D\u00f6pfner staunch pro-Israel viewpoints.<\/p>\n

Read more Florida Farmworkers Exposed to Scorching Heat and Pesticides<\/a><\/p>\n

In a statement, D\u00f6pfner praised Thiel for his \u201cnonconformism.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cPeter Thiel is one of the rare entrepreneurs who does not merely found or finance companies but helps determine the direction of technological development. His ability to think long-term, argue against consensus, and consistently bet on innovation has inspired generations of founders,\u201d the Axel Springer CEO said.<\/p>\n

The company says that Thiel has been \u201cattacked and vilified\u201d for his work, especially regarding his remarks on the \u201cfuture of Western societies.\u201d <\/p>\n

Thiel, a major Donald Trump ally and one of the top 100 richest people in the world, has had ties with white supremacists. He has, for decades, espoused his far right beliefs, and once wrote that he does not believe \u201cfreedom and democracy are compatible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thiel recently gave a series of lectures on the threat of the supposed \u201cantichrist\u201d to society. In his remarks, he painted a picture of a person who makes it harder for people like him to act with impunity, lamenting the fact that \u201cit\u2019s become quite difficult to hide one\u2019s money\u201d as a show that the antichrist is on the rise. He suggested that people concerned about the climate crisis or the threats of AI could be candidates for being the antichrist, and directly named Greta Thunberg.<\/p>\n

Thiel is a major backer of Republicans and has been credited with grooming JD Vance for the vice presidency. Under Trump, Palantir has also gotten massive contracts to compile massive amounts of data on Americans and provide AI and other software systems for the U.S. military to use in combat.<\/p>\n

Read more Backing for UBI Is Growing. Let\u2019s Push for the Most Progressive Version of It.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The award ceremony is slated to include remarks from Bari Weiss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nPolitico Owner Axel Springer Gives Prize to Far Right Billionaire Peter Thiel - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Politico Owner Axel Springer Gives Prize to Far Right Billionaire Peter Thiel - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The award ceremony is slated to include remarks from Bari Weiss.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-20T19:10:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1049#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1049\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"Politico Owner Axel Springer Gives Prize to Far Right Billionaire Peter Thiel\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-20T19:10:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1049\"},\"wordCount\":627,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1049#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/5e59fad32f5356e7b053f9893bd5fbf8.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1049#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1049\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1049\",\"name\":\"Politico Owner Axel Springer Gives Prize to Far Right Billionaire Peter Thiel - Smart Moving Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1049#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1049#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/5e59fad32f5356e7b053f9893bd5fbf8.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-20T19:10:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1049#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1049\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1049#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/5e59fad32f5356e7b053f9893bd5fbf8.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/5e59fad32f5356e7b053f9893bd5fbf8.jpg\",\"width\":2400,\"height\":1600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1049#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Politico Owner Axel Springer Gives Prize to Far Right Billionaire Peter Thiel\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Smart Moving Home\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Politico Owner Axel Springer Gives Prize to Far Right Billionaire Peter Thiel - Smart Moving Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Politico Owner Axel Springer Gives Prize to Far Right Billionaire Peter Thiel - Smart Moving Home","og_description":"The award ceremony is slated to include remarks from Bari Weiss.","og_url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049","og_site_name":"Smart Moving Home","article_published_time":"2026-07-20T19:10:10+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa"},"headline":"Politico Owner Axel Springer Gives Prize to Far Right Billionaire Peter Thiel","datePublished":"2026-07-20T19:10:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049"},"wordCount":627,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5e59fad32f5356e7b053f9893bd5fbf8.jpg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049","url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049","name":"Politico Owner Axel Springer Gives Prize to Far Right Billionaire Peter Thiel - Smart Moving Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5e59fad32f5356e7b053f9893bd5fbf8.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-20T19:10:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5e59fad32f5356e7b053f9893bd5fbf8.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5e59fad32f5356e7b053f9893bd5fbf8.jpg","width":2400,"height":1600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1049#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Politico Owner Axel Springer Gives Prize to Far Right Billionaire Peter Thiel"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/","name":"Smart Moving Home","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/smartmovinghome.com"],"url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}