“Palantir is here to disrupt and make the institutions we partner with the very best in the world and, when it’s necessary, to scare enemies and on occasion kill them,” Alex Karp (Co-founder and CEO of Palantir)

Palantir wants to process your health data. What else have they been up to?

Here are five terrifying things you need to know about Palantir:

1. Palantir enables the mass surveillance of communities

Leicestershire police is developing a national data platform for mass surveillance. Liberty Investigates says this will enable a “real-time data-sharing network that includes the personal details of vulnerable victims, children and witnesses alongside suspects. Trade union membership, sexual orientation and race are among the other types of personal information being processed.”

A senior researcher at Amnesty International has said Palantir “creates a 360 profile of individuals using sensitive personal data, violates people’s right to privacy and establishes a system of indiscriminate mass surveillance.” This puts us all at risk.

2. Palantir creates racist tech for the police

Both in the US and in Germany, there have been legal challenges raised against Palantir’s use of this sensitive personal data for racial profiling and racist predictive policing. They raised concerns that Palantir software used innocent people's data to form suspicions and could also produce errors, affecting people at risk of police discrimination.

This racist tech has entered the UK and Leicestershire police, who are leading on an East Midlands partnership, are blocking requests to release details.

3. Palantir's software is used to kill civilians

Palantir have enabled drone strikes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine which have targeted civilians.

Now they’re upgrading their weapons with Project Maven. This technology could one day be used to build autonomous weapons that decide who and what to strike without human input.

These are not the ethics we want in our public services.

4. Palantir enables the illegal separation of children from their families

Palantir supports the US government to track and deport migrants at the Mexico border, including forcibly separating children from parents.

Palantir are enabling raids which tear thousands of families apart. In just one example, two children were left alone for 8 days after ICE arrested both of their parents. They have been known to target unaccompanied children, showing no concern for the most vulnerable people in society. The scale of these operations would not be possible without Palantir.

5. Palantir made dodgy deals with the UK government to take over our public services

Palantir exploited the Covid pandemic to get their hands on our public services. Matt Hancock handed out this dodgy contract whilst procurement procedures had been ‘paused’. He even bypassed patient confidentiality regulations to hand over patient data to Palantir.

Palantir is also backed by disgraced politician Peter Mandelson, who set up a secret meeting between Palantir and Starmer in February 2025.

Cronyism has no place in our public services.

So what has this got to do with the NHS?

Here are five reasons why you should be concerned with their £330 million contract:

1. Patient safety will be at risk

Experts have raised concerns about data security in Palantir's system and how the information Palantir will have access to can be exploited. Patients will have no say in this as there is no way to opt out of sharing data.

Healthworkers and their unions have called Palantir an "unacceptable choice of partner" for the NHS.

2. It will be expensive for our local NHS organisations

Despite the government already paying for the contract local hospitals still face eye watering costs to adopt it locally. According to HSJ it will cost local trusts over £1 billion to implement. An NHS data analyst has said similar technology can be delivered at a fraction of the cost.

This is not value for money for an NHS already in financial crisis.

3. Unsuitable and poor quality software is being forced on NHS Trusts

Reports about using Palantir are clear that it is not fit for purpose.

An NHS Digital worker has said that they being forced to use a complicated system that makes the simplest tasks feel like "pulling teeth". NHS top executives have said that Palantir's tech will be worse than systems already in place.

This would be a backwards step for the NHS and make it harder to deliver good healthcare.

4. It is a leap towards the privatisation of our NHS

Palantir values profit over patient care. Palantir's founder has repeatedly expressed contempt for the NHS and the British public's affection for it. He has said that we should “rip the [NHS] from the ground.”

The NHS is not safe in Palantir's hands.

5. Palantir's oppressive and racist technology has no place in the NHS

Leicester's hospitals are working hard to establish trust and integrity with their local communities, declaring themselves an anti-racist NHS Trust. Any association with Palantir's oppressive and racist technology threatens all of this work and undermines the NHS' commitment to community engagement.