Peter Thiel Calls It 'Philanthropy': Going After Someone You Don't Like Isn't a Public Service

The case of Hulk Hogan suing Gawker Media over a leaked sex tape started out strangely. It got stranger still when it turned out that Peter Thiel—a Silicon Valley billionaire whose politics espouse free speech and who has given money to a journalism organization—funded a suit that could put Gawker out of business.

And now that Thiel has spoken to The New York Times about the suit, acknowledging his role and describing his motivation, it’s gotten even weirder. Or at least, it’s the strangest use ever of a term that tech moguls like to toss around: “philanthropy.”

According to The New York Times, “Mr. Thiel said he considered his financial backing of the cases against Gawker to be ‘one of my greater philanthropic things that I’ve done. I think of it in those terms.’"