An influential Silicon Valley publication runs a cover story lamenting the ā€œpussificationā€ of tech. A major tech CEO lambasts a Black civil rights leaderā€™s calls for diversifying the tech workforce. Technologists rage against the ā€œPC policeā€.

No, this isnā€™t Silicon Valley in the age of Maga. Itā€™s the tech industry of the 1990s, when observers first raised concerns about the rightwing bend of Silicon Valley and the potential for ā€œtechnofascismā€. Despite the industryā€™s (often undeserved) reputation for liberalism, its reactionary foundations were baked in almost from the beginning. As Silicon Valley enters a second Trump administration, the gendered roots of its original reactionary movement offer insight into todayā€™s rightward turn.

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This rising ā€œtechnofascismā€, as critics of the time had called it, was temporarily staved off by the dotcom stock market crash of 2000. George Gilderā€™s reputation was badly damaged after he failed to predict the crash. And much of the hype around digital tech was temporarily tempered after hundreds of startups went bust. But a younger generation of aspiring tech hopefuls had already come to the valley, seeking fame, riches, and power. Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and others had absorbed the lessons of the 90s. At the start of the new millennium, they were ready to put their stamp on the future, guided by reactionary dreams of the past.

The Silicon Valley titans of 2025 are following the same blueprint. Last week, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta was ending its DEI programs and changing its platform policies to allow more discriminatory and harassing posts. On Joe Roganā€™s podcast, Zuckerberg made his motivations clear: he claimed that corporate culture had moved away from ā€œmasculine energyā€ and needed to reinstate it after getting ā€œneuteredā€. Elon Musk has reshaped Twitter into X, a platform in large part operating as a response to claims of a ā€œwoke mind virusā€ā€“ the newest iteration of ā€œpolitical correctnessā€. And Marc Andreessen himself, the ā€œboy geniusā€ of the 1990s, has increasingly drawn inspiration from the Italian futurists, a movement of fascist artists in the early 20th century who glorified technology while seeking to ā€œdemolishā€ feminism.

But the history of the valley suggests this isnā€™t a blip or an anomaly. Itā€™s a crescendo of forces central to the tech industry, and the current wave of rightwing tech titans are building on Silicon Valleyā€™s foundations.

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    13ā€¢2 days ago

    Behind the bastards host Rober Evans does a great job of outlining how this is happening in his book, ā€œThe War on Everyone.ā€ Itā€™s available for free all over the Internet (Including SoundCloud).

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      8ā€¢2 days ago

      Iā€™m more of a TrashFuture and TrueAnon head because I canā€™t stand ads.

      TrueAnonā€™s The Blue Light Killer takes a deep dive into Mangioneā€™s political beliefs. I know TrashFuture has a bunch on Thielā€™s TPOT/Grey Tribe bullshit, but Iā€™ll be damned if I can find it.