--- title: "Concern Grows Around Billionaire Peter Thiel’s Period-Tracking App" description: "Peter Thiel, billionaire entrepreneur and top campaign donor has decided to back a \"femtech\" app called 28, created by the divisive Evie Magazine." date: "2022-09-11" modified: "2022-09-11" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/peter-thiel-period-tracking-app" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "abortion" - "birth control" - "peter thiel" - "roe v wade" --- # Concern Grows Around Billionaire Peter Thiel’s Period-Tracking App ![Peter Thiel, billionaire entrepreneur and top campaign donor has decided to back a "femtech" app called 28, created by the divisive Evie Magazine.]() *\Image: Marco Bello/Getty Images\* Peter Thiel — the billionaire venture capitalist, [*Gawker* destroyer]() and top dollar conservative campaign donor — is now backing a "femtech" app called 28, [according to *Vice News*](). The app, created by a controversial women's publication called *Evie Magazine*, claims to be a "cycle-based" nutrition and wellness program that helps women "reclaim control of \[their\] bodies, in the most natural way possible." Neither the billionaire's venture firm Thiel Capital nor Thiel himself are strangers to [health and life science investments](), but funding a fertility startup is a bit of a turn, especially at a moment during which a lot of Americans have just [lost, rather than reclaimed](), a significant degree of bodily autonomy. And a closer look at the app, and those who made it, illuminates a powerful political intersection between tech, health, the wellness industry, and modern conservatism in which conspiracy theories and dubious pseudoscience are [feeding a growing counter-counter-culture](). For starters, the science is sketchy. The core premise of the app appears to get women off modern birth control methods, like the hormonal pill or an intrauterine device. Its website is almost comically vague on what the alternative might be, but a focus on "cycles" suggests that it's essentially the [rhythm method](), which basically entails attempting to avoid sex during ovulation. That's fine in principle, but the rhythm method is statistically quite ineffective, with about a [quarter of couples]() using it accidentally becoming pregnant over the average year. The publication behind the app raises even more questions. *Evie* [appears to be somewhat]() of a *Cosmopolitan*-meets-*MindBodyGreen*-meets-Tomi Lahren situation: makeup, workout, and holistic wellness tips and tricks are sandwiched between [transphobic essays]() and [anti-vaxx arguments](). Its anti-birth control cycle-tracking app — which, yes, requires that women input [potentially incriminating menstruation data]() — seems like a natural extension of that apparent mission: the rejection of a very specific version of "[feminism]()" in order to embrace an [old-meets-new]() version of [traditional femininity](). "With love, we embrace our nature and our bodies, and care for them the way they deserve," [reads 28's website](). "With courage, we asked questions that were unpopular, challenged the status quo, and didn't wait for society's permission." "Women were tired of the pill and the negative impact it's had on their brains and bodies. They were getting off it in droves and looking for natural alternatives," the magazine and app's co-founder Brittany Hugoboom [recently told *TechCrunch*](), adding that "we want to democratize the science of hormone and menstrual health. And provide women everywhere with tangible tools to physically and emotionally flourish." It's true that many women have experienced adverse reactions to the pill. It's also true that women, [especially women of color](), have long been [left out of medical studies](), and tend to face mistreatment by the medical establishment. But even with those realities in mind, 28's anti-birth control rhetoric discounts the fact that there are many, many different kinds contraceptives these days, with no one-size-fits-all to reproductive care. It's also true that the [demonization of hormonal birth control specifically]() has become a sort of rallying cry in certain circles of the women's wellness community, where skepticism and conspiracy theories, cult-followed "[conspiritualist]()" influencers like [Kelly Brogan](), and "[doing your own research]()" reign supreme. Somehow, in these growing communities, embracing the pill is to reject an inherent womanhood, and rejecting the pill, in turn, is the only path to "healthy hormones, self-discovery, and a beautiful, feminine physique," [as 28 claims](). This [anti-contraceptive ethos]() fits into a *Evie's* broader anti-abortion, pro-life messaging. One 2021 *Evie* story, titled "[Argentina, A Hot Spot For Human Trafficking, Just Legalized Abortion]()," argued — falsely — that "trafficking, abuse, and abortion are inextricably, intrinsically linked," while many of its other stories make [similarly dubious anti-abortion claims](). More than one [suggest that the]() [abortion pill is bad for women](), while another [claims that abortion]() is an "anti-woman issue that has nothing to do with bodily autonomy or reproductive freedom." And as *Vice* points out, [Hugoboom's personal Twitter account]() is riddled with [anti-feminist, pro-life rhetoric](). (The magazine, in the face of all this, [claims to be apolitical]().) That all being said, what could Thiel possibly want with an app like this? Other popular cycle-tracking apps already exist. Why would he want in on 28? Of course, [he could want the data](), which has been a concern regarding [some of Thiel's past investments](), especially those related to his CIA-backed data analytics firm Palantir (Hugoboom has claimed that 28's data is protected, although *Vice* points out that details as to how are scarce and flawed). *Vice* also turns to the [famous contrarian's]() well-documented penchant for funding and participating in bizarre health treatments, many of which center on an [apparent interest]() with youth and living forever — [an obsession]() shared by [many in the tech industry](), where the strangest of [wellness treatments]() and "[biohacks]()" run amuck. But Thiel isn't only in the tech industry, nor is he just interested in funding startups. He's also in the [business of campaign financing](), and most of the campaigns that the billionaire has recently funded ([Arizona candidate Blake Masters](), [Ohio candidate J.D. Vance](), and [former president Donald Trump](), to name a few) share the *Evie* principles: [anti-woke](), [anti-abortion](), [anti-feminism](), [anti-trans](), and so on. Funding *Evie* isn't just a business bet. It's a political one, too. And in [post-Roe America](), *Evie Magazine* and 28, unfortunately, both seem [like safe bets to make](). "I tried to follow the science, but it simply was not there," reads a graphic, recently retweeted by Hugoboom. "I then followed the money, and that's where I found the science." Oddly poignant, no? **READ MORE:** [*Peter Thiel's Investment Firm Is Backing a Menstrual Cycle-Focused ‘Femtech’ Company*]() \[*Vice News*\] **More on post-Roe America:** *[Facebook Just Sold out Abortion Rights to Cops in Nebraska]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()