On Friday the NY Times published a report highlighting the Trump administration’s increasing use of software from data analysis firm Palantir, which has been deployed across at least four federal agencies for the stated purpose of increasing operational efficiency through data modernization.
For now, each deployment of Palantir software is focused on department-specific services, but the fact that they’re now embedded across multiple agencies – combined with Trump’s March executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies – has raised concerns over whether the US government is laying the groundwork for what could become an interconnected and unified surveillance apparatus created by a company which has been in business with the government since 2008.
On Wednesday we noted that Fannie Mae, the quasi-government financial firm overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), announced a partnership with Palantir to detect mortgage fraud using the firm’s proprietary technology, which includes some elements of artificial intelligence.
According to the report, since Donald Trump took office Palantir has received over $113 million in government spending – which doesn’t include a $795 million contract from the Department of Defense (DoD) awarded last week. According to the Times report (citing six alleged government officials and Palantir employees), the company is also in discussions with the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service (the latter of which contracted with Palantir during the Biden administration).
Former Employees Revolt
Palantir was founded in 2003 by Alex Karp and Trump ally Peter Thiel, and specializes in finding patterns in data and streamlining it into easily presentable formats. While Thiel is clearly a conservative, Karp – a self-described “socialist” who voted for Hillary Clinton, bragged about stopping the “far right” in Europe.
CIA agent and head of Palantir Alex Karp says his company’s software “single-handedly” stopped the “far right” in Europe.
Founded in 2003 with funding from the CIA’s In-Q-Tel program, Palantir’s only client before 2008 was the CIA. pic.twitter.com/Shq0uA5x16
— Reed Cooley (@ReedCooley) May 31, 2025
Via @ReedCooley
And so it’s of little surprise that employees would flip out and leave over Palantir’s recent $30 million contract with ICE to build a platform to track migrant movements in real time. (Palantir notably designed software for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to identify and track Hamas targets).
This month, 13 former employees signed a letter urging Palantir to stop its endeavors with Mr. Trump. Linda Xia, a signee who was a Palantir engineer until last year, said the problem was not with the company’s technology but with how the Trump administration intended to use it.
“Data that is collected for one reason should not be repurposed for other uses,” Ms. Xia said. “Combining all that data, even with the noblest of intentions, significantly increases the risk of misuse.”
…
Ms. Xia said Palantir employees were increasingly worried about reputational damage to the company because of its work with the Trump administration. There is growing debate within the company about its federal contracts, she said.
“Current employees are discussing the implications of their work and raising questions internally,” she said, adding that some employees have left after disagreements over the company’s work with the Trump administration.
Last week, a Palantir strategist, Brianna Katherine Martin, posted on LinkedIn that she was departing the company because of its expanded work with ICE. -NY Times
According to Xia’s letter, “We no longer believe Palantir’s executives are upholding these values. By supporting Trump’s administration,Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative, and dangerous expansions of executive power, they have abandoned their responsibility and are in violation of Palantir’s Code of Conduct.”
“As Musk’s DOGE operation dismantles U.S. government institutions under the guise of exposing corruption, opposition remains silent. Companies are placating Trump’s administration, suppressing dissent, and aligning with his xenophobic, sexist, and oligarchic agenda.Government databases are already erasing references to transgender people and gender-affirming care.These injustices could be facilitated by the very software infrastructure we help build.”
Palantir Responds
In response to the Times, Palantir pointed to a blog post on how the company handles data, which reads: “We act as a data processor, not a data controller.”
“Our software and services are used under direction from the organisations that license our products: these organisations define what can and cannot be done with their data; they control the Palantir accounts in which analysis is conducted.”
What say you?
Tyler Durden
Sun, 06/01/2025 – 22:45
