On Friday, the NY Times published a report highlighting the Trump administration’s increasing use of software from data analytics firm Palantir, which has been deployed in at least four federal agencies with the aim of increasing operational efficiency through data modernization.
Currently, each implementation of Palantir’s software focuses on department-specific services, but the fact that they are now integrated into multiple agencies — along with Trump’s March executive order calling on the federal government to share data across agencies — has raised concerns about whether the U.S. government is laying the groundwork for what could become a connected and unified surveillance apparatus created by a company that has been doing business with the government since 2008.
On Wednesday, we noted that Fannie Mae, a quasi-government financial company overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), announced a partnership with Palantir to detect mortgage fraud using the company’s proprietary technology, which includes some elements of artificial intelligence.
According to the report, Palantir has received more than $113 million in government spending since Donald Trump took office — that doesn’t include a $795 million contract with the Department of Defense (DoD) last week. The company is also in talks with the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service (the latter of which contracted with Palantir during the Biden administration), according to the Times report (citing six alleged government officials and Palantir employees).
Revolt of former employees
Palantir was founded in 2003 by Alex Karp and Trump ally Peter Thiel, and specializes in finding patterns in data and formatting them into easy-to-present formats. While Thiel is a staunch conservative, Karp—who described himself as a socialist and voted for Hillary Clinton—bragged about stopping the “far right” movement in Europe.
via @ReedCooley
So it’s no surprise that employees were upset and walked out after Palantir’s recent $30 million contract with ICE to build a platform to track migrant movements in real time. (Palantir designed software for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to identify and track Hamas targets.)
This month, 13 former employees signed a letter calling on Palantir to end its partnership with Mr. Trump. Linda Xia, a signatory who was a Palantir engineer until last year, said the problem was not the company’s technology but how the Trump administration intended to use it.
“Data collected for one reason should not be used for another,” Ms. Xia said. “Combining all of this data, even with the most noble intentions, greatly increases the risk of misuse.”
…
Ms. Xia said Palantir employees are increasingly concerned about the company’s reputation being damaged as the company works with the Trump administration. There is a growing debate within the company about federal contracts, she said.
“Current employees are discussing the implications of their work and raising issues internally,” he said, adding that some employees have left after disagreements with the Trump administration over the company’s work.
Last week, Palantir strategist Brianna Katherine Martin posted on LinkedIn that she was leaving the company over its expanded cooperation with ICE. – NY Times
According to Xia’s letter, “we no longer believe that Palantir’s leaders adhere to these values. By supporting the Trump administration, Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative, and dangerous expansions of executive power, they have abdicated their responsibilities and are violating Palantir’s Code of Conduct.”
“While Musk’s DOGE operation dismantles US government agencies under the pretext of exposing corruption, the opposition remains silent. Corporations are appeasing the Trump administration, suppressing dissent, and supporting his xenophobic, sexist, and oligarchic agenda . Government databases are already being purged of references to transgender people and gender-affirming care. The very software infrastructure we are helping to build may be facilitating these injustices.”
Palantir responds
In response to the Times, Palantir pointed to a blog post about the company’s handling of data, which states: “We act as a data processor, not a data controller.”
“Our software and services are used under the guidance of the organizations that license our products: these organizations define what can and cannot be done with that data; they control the Palantir accounts where the analytics are performed.”
What do you say?
