Palantir demonstration

Members of the Salisbury group take part in national demonstration about this firm

October 2026

The public are slowly becoming aware of the firm Palantir and how it is increasingly being used by British institutions. Profound worries are expressed on a number of counts about the use of this firm. They include the security of the information obtained, the degree of control by government over the firm’s actions, the engagement by Palantir in the violent actions of IDF in Gaza and ICE in the US, the deeply unpleasant remarks made by Peter Thiel the owner of the organisation, and how naïve government ministers seem to place contracts of dubious merit and without proper tenders.

Members of the Salisbury group joined others in Southampton on 1st October to protest against the continuing involvement in the NHS in particular. NHS staff are particularly concerned not least because of Peter Thiel’s remarks about their organisation saying […] “the NHS makes people sick“.

Security of the information

The firm has an increasing number of contracts with the police, the MoD and the NHS. Vast quantities of information are garnered and it is claimed that major savings are made to waiting times and operational efficiency. Only they aren’t and the claims are wildly exaggerated. Our concern however is the security of the information and where the data is held. The firm claims that the data is secure but following a struggle, details of the contract were released and the elements dealing with data storage were redacted. We do not know in other words.

Government control

This is an American company and thus outside the control of our government for much of its activity. Since successive governments seem to be in awe of American tech giants the question is, how much control does our government have? Is it able to inspect the storage architecture? Can it know to what use the information is being put by the firm? The UK government has a long, long history of tech disasters and experience shows that those in the Civil Service dealing with these matters have little knowledge.

Palantir’s ‘morals‘

The firm has been more than happy to engage in some unsavoury activities. It provided the IDF with the means to coordinate all its information to enable strikes on alleged Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Although many might argue that Israel was entitled to strike against terrorist threats, the NAZA policy meant entire blocks of flats were bombed to kill one possible terrorist. They are deployed by ICE in its campaign of rounding up illegal immigrants and others.

Peter Thiel

One of the proprietors of Palantir, he is on record having made some unpleasant remarks. He is a supporter in Carl Schmitt who was active between the wars and was seen as a Nazi supporter and a leading light in the party. He is sceptical about democracy. He is of course entitled to his views and several commentators have found it difficult to quite bottom out what they are. However, he is disdainful of government controls. His combination of beliefs make one wonder how safe our information is in his hands.

Government contracts

Technology has such power these days that contracts with companies like Palantir should be subject to rigorous scrutiny and control. The original contract was placed during the Covid pandemic for £1 by Boris Johnson when he was prime minister. The new prime minister Andy Burnham is keen to promote his ‘pro business’ government which raises the question how closely will the activities of this firm be monitored.

The government is desperate to see an improvement in the performance of the NHS and a reduction in the waiting lists. Will they overlook problems of security and rights in its haste to enjoy the supposed benefits offered by this firm? It is reported that Labour may be thinking of ending the NHS part of the contract which they have to do in December.

Middle East Eye reports that a motion, put forward at the party’s conference in Liverpool by the Labour-affiliated Socialist Health Association and at least three constituency parties, urged the government to cancel the £330m ($437m) contract to process NHS data with the controversial tech giant. It said Palantir was “facing numerous allegations of involvement in serious breaches of human rights, including due to it developing technology for Israel’s military to use in its unlawful occupation of Palestinian land and genocide in Gaza”.

The motion said: “The Labour government has a responsibility to uphold public trust in politics, including in the awarding of public contracts, particularly where there are allegations of involvement in grave violations of international law.” The motion was blocked however.