PayPal Co-Founder Slams Google For Treason

Image: Peter Thiel by Dan Taylor

Billionaire PayPal co-founder, Facebook director and sometimes bankrupter of unfavourable new media publications, Peter Thiel, has accused Google of working with the Chinese military.

Mr Thiel said the tech giant’s attempts to have its search engine allowed back into China were “seemingly treasonous” and “questions need to be asked by the FBI and the CIA” about whether the company’s artificial intelligence research program had been infiltrated by foreign agents.

The vocal Trump supporter made the comments while delivering the opening speech at the inaugural National Conservatism conference in Washington over the weekend according to Bloomberg.

While Mr Thiel provided little evidence to support his claims, President Trump tweeted yesterday his government will “take a look”, calling Thiel a “great and brilliant guy who knows this subject better than anyone”.

Mr Thiel was particularly aggrieved Google had let a contract that gave the US Department of Defense access to the company’s artificial intelligence tools lapse while it tried to get its search operation back up and running in China.

Trump’s National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow told Fox Business Network said he’s “not sure where [Thiel’s] going”.

“I meet with the Google CEO on a regular basis, I think they’re working for our country, not China,” Mr Kudlow said.

Google launched its search operation in China in 2000 before pulling out in 2010 after years of censorship by the Chinese government.