Recent reporting has cast Dialog, an invitation-only network founded in 2006 by the Silicon Valley investors Auren Hoffman and Peter Thiel, as a secret society of global elites directed by Thiel. A Byline Times investigation finds something more consequential, if less sensational: a long-running influence network, run by Hoffman and built around light-touch social engineering, that trades on Thiel’s name while operating at arm’s length from him.

Thiel himself is barely there – no hand in running Dialog, rarely present – and the network sits at the loose end of a wider web he backs. Others in that web, working far more directly to place allies in positions of power, have drawn little of the scrutiny now falling on it.

Byline Times contacted multiple former participants and obtained copies of emails sent to invitees. Each contained long lists of names intended to encourage attendance at a range of events, including regular retreats, local dinners, one-off gatherings, and online discussions.

Importantly, while the conference itself is billed as off-the-record, none of those who spoke to Byline Times suggested that attendees were asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Furthermore, marketing emails sent to prospective participants (which contained detailed information about participants and programming) carried no explicit expectation of secrecy. While invitations are clearly denoted as non-transferable, Dialog seems to rely on an aura of exclusivity and mutual respect to keep its gatherings on the down-low.