Tech Billionaires Political Influence

The cluster discusses how tech and crypto billionaires like SBF, Musk, Thiel, and others use massive donations and money to buy political influence, access, and favors from politicians across parties, often framed as corruption or bribery.

➡️ Stable 0.8x Politics & Society
3,469
Comments
19
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#8468
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Activity Over Time

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Keywords

DeSantis politico.com NYT US allthingsd.com SBF NZ theatlantic.com theguardian.com newrepublic.com politics money thiel musk crypto trump virtue signaling silicon valley democracy rich

Sample Comments

timmytokyo Nov 3, 2023 View on HN

He was an equal-opportunity briber.https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/30/ftx-billi...

DevKoala Dec 1, 2022 View on HN

This comment section is hilarious. Some don’t want to acknowledge the obvious, and instead try to tip toe around the subject with funny excuses such as, “MSM are not crypto experts”, “his 40M in donations to democrats do not hold any value anymore”, “his family ties to Democrat and academic leadership only makes his inner circle judgement more impartial”, etc.There are none so blind as those who will not see.

PM_me_your_math Dec 22, 2022 View on HN

This dude has friends in high places. No surprise however. He paid for them with other people's money.

boston_clone Dec 14, 2025 View on HN

the net worth of the current president is several billion dollars.that is the same person who ran a crypto pump-and-dump scheme in their first month back in office.billionaires may have competing interests and also act irrationally.

r00fus Jul 23, 2014 View on HN

http://allthingsd.com/20130510/elon-musk-and-david-sacks-dep...Buying influence can look dirty, especially when it runs opposed to your stated goals.

exceptione Dec 11, 2024 View on HN

What does make you think these people with their $$$$$$$$$$$$ have no friends? Your problem is not that there are only 3, but that the networks in which they operate think they would be better of without democracy.Thiel wants to end democracy and has immense influence. If it was only just about money.... More info via lemma Accelerationism.Musk just bought the White House for himself after having bought Twitter, he is a Thiel protege. Bezos had to swear allegiance.There might come a tim

dboreham Apr 27, 2016 View on HN

Because someone with large quantities of money wants it that way. The comments are probably astroturf.

DeathArrow May 19, 2024 View on HN

Many people use politics to generate profits. :)

ajoy Feb 19, 2020 View on HN

This is the game that is being played : https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-202... (The Billion-Dollar Disinformation Campaign to Reelect the President). The article is a little biased, but shows the sophistication required to play.To bring a contrarian pt of view: If you are

jjtheblunt Jan 6, 2023 View on HN

the cynic in me wonders if this, now, is a planned diversion from the seeming universal outrage at SBF being out on bail, with widely documented vanished stolen investor money having been given to politicians (of both parties).