Mike Gallagher's TikTok Crystal Ball

A Palantir-Shaped Conflict of Interest on the TikTok Ban

“Conflict of interest” is such an inelegant term of art from the world of political wheeling and dealing. It wasn’t in frequent use until the 1950s, and I much prefer the older word: corruption.

Earlier this year, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) was a major player in one of the most stunning legislative accomplishments in recent congressional history. His office co-wrote the successful TikTok ban bill, which passed with lightning speed and earned him headlines such as, “The Man Leading the Charge Against TikTok.”

But, as it turns out, while he was negotiating the terms of the TikTok ban bill, he might also have been negotiating the terms of his future nest egg. You see, Mike Gallagher retired the day after the final House vote on his TikTok ban bill. His new job? In-house lobbyist for Palantir, the data analytics provider par excellence of the national security state. (They have contracts with everyone from the DoD to the Pentagon to ICE.)

Palantir was also a primary backer of the campaign to ban TikTok. As I wrote last week, Palantir CEO Alex Karp supported the TikTok ban after the platform refused to remove the pro-Palestinian content that was finding purchase among American college students after the October 7 massacre. TikTok’s Chinese ownership was also a major concern for the company. Palantir mouthpiece Jacob Helberg — another important behind the scenes player in the TikTok ban bill — argued recently that we’re already in a “tech war” with China. He didn’t need to state the obvious, that Palantir stands to financially benefit from heightened tensions between the US and China (and subsequent fat government contracts).

After revived interest in a possible TikTok ban in late 2023, Palantir ramped up its lobbying, nearly tripling its quarterly spend by the end of the year. But why stick with merely hiring sleezy, third party lobbyists when you can make sure the call comes from inside the House, so to speak?

By March 22, 2024, local papers and journalists were reporting a scoop that Mike Gallagher would be taking a job at Palantir after retiring from his seat on April 19th. (As it happened, the final House vote on the TikTok ban — which was packaged with a foreign aid bill — was ultimately scheduled for April 20th, so Gallagher delayed his retirement for one day, making that his final vote in Congress.)

So, while Gallagher was shepherding a TikTok ban bill through congress, it appears he was preparing to take an undoubtedly well-compensated job at the very company that was then campaigning hard for that bill.

At the time, Gallagher denied the reports, dismissing them as “TikTok propaganda.” Yet by June, it appeared that the predictions had come true after all; Gallagher was in charge of Palantir’s defense arm, including prospecting for government contracts.

"Prospecting,” huh. There’s another one of those inelegant terms of art.