# Palmer Luckey — "I'm a propagandist" > [!quote] "Absolutely not, I'm a propagandist. I'll twist the truth. I'll put forward only my version if I think that that's going to propagandize people to what I need them to believe." > — Palmer Luckey, Pepperdine University speaker series, October 1, 2024 ## Context Asked at the same October 1, 2024 Pepperdine event whether he — a former journalism student — still thought like a journalist, [[Palmer Luckey]] answered that he absolutely did not, then volunteered the label "propagandist" and described, approvingly, twisting the truth to move audiences toward what he needs them to believe. The remark came in a wider conversation in which he also warned of a "shadow campaign being waged in the United Nations right now by many of our adversaries" to discourage Western militaries from pursuing AI. ## Why this matters It is rare for a defense contractor to openly disclaim any commitment to accuracy and brand himself a propagandist. The admission is a useful interpretive key for everything else Luckey says in public: by his own account, his statements are instruments aimed at an effect, not claims meant to be true. That self-description sits awkwardly beside his role as one of the most quoted evangelists for [[Autonomous Weapons]] and his warnings about adversary "disinformation" — he positions himself as the antidote to foreign propaganda while explicitly claiming the same tool for his own side. ## Verification - **Primary reporting:** [Gizmodo, "'I'm a Propagandist': Palmer Luckey on the Future of Warfare"](https://gizmodo.com/im-a-propagandist-palmer-luckey-on-the-future-of-warfare-2000506276), covering the Pepperdine conversation. - **Same event:** [TechCrunch, October 1, 2024](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/01/palmer-luckey-every-country-needs-a-warrior-class-excited-to-enact-violence-on-others-in-pursuit-of-good-aims/). - **Status:** Verbatim, undisputed; an unprompted self-description. ## Related quotes - [[Palmer Luckey - warrior class enacting violence]] — from the same Pepperdine appearance. - [[Palmer Luckey - world police to world gun store]].