When asked — or heckled, really — about his relationship with Palantir yesterday at a Turning Point USA event at Ole Miss, JD Vance turned his answer into a broadside against the adtech industry.
“What’s going on with artificial intelligence is going to mean there are massive inducements to steal your data, harvest it, and use it against you to sell digital advertisements. That is not what I believe in,” Vance said.
He went on to criticize search engines as well, adding: “Do you know that every time you linger over a link on the internet for more than half a second, the search engines are collecting data on you so they can sell you advertisements?” He concluded, “You cannot be a sovereign citizen if any private corporation or government can steal something from you that belongs to you.”
Mind you, the original question was about Palantir and surveillance — but okay, go off, sir.
Why This Matters:
Republicans — including the Trump administration — have generally been more supportive of the adtech industry compared to Democrats, who have taken a more aggressive regulatory approach under President Biden.
Still, moments of tension have emerged between GOP leaders and major platforms like Meta and Google, as well as between Elon Musk and advertisers. Vance’s comments go further, framing the entire digital ad ecosystem — from data-driven targeting to attribution and measurement — as a form of “theft” and surveillance. So, some pointed feedback here.
Experts React:
Forgive us for posting a clip from “infolibnews,” but here’s the full exchange:
Our Take:
Does Vance’s take mean much? Maybe not. It felt more like a pivot to dodge the Palantir question. Still, it’ll be worth watching whether this rhetoric carries deeper into the administration — especially if the criticism expands beyond Big Tech and toward the broader ad industry.
Also, note the applause at the end of his remarks. It’s a reminder that digital advertising has a massive PR problem, and one that goes well-beyond politics.
