IDMonSite x FO Live – Downstream from Silicon Valley: How Apartheid-Era Algorithms are Reshaping the Danube Region
Datum/Zeit
September 29, 2026
09:00 - 10:00 MESZ/MEZ
YouTube Live Stream
In this IDMonSite × FO Live session, chaired by Director Sebastian Schäffer, we sit down with Atul Singh, founder and editor‑in‑chief of Fair Observer, to trace how Silicon Valley ideology becomes concrete power along the Danube. We map Palantir’s expansion across EU member states and ask what this means for data protection, border regimes and democratic oversight in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czechia, the Western Balkans and Moldova. A key thread is the recurring South Africa connection: Thiel, Elon Musk and PayPal affiliate David Sacks all spent formative years in apartheid‑era South Africa, an experience increasingly cited by analysts as shaping their comfort with hierarchical, surveillance‑heavy models of governance – from “digital apartheid” in South African cities to migration and security tech exported into Europe.
The conversation moves beyond conspiracy talk to show actual mechanisms like investment vehicles, advisory roles, government contracts, think‑tank funding and closed retreats, through which tech oligarchs and their political allies are reshaping security, migration and digital governance from Vienna and Berlin to Budapest, Bratislava and the Western Balkans.
Speakers:
Sebastian Schäffer, Director, IDM
Atul Singh, CEO, Fair Observer
Watch the discussion live on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBEK68-0d6Q
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