In the ‘Lord of the Rings’ universe, a palantir is the seer stone that Saruman uses to communicate with Sauron. The fact of having chosen this name for a company that is dedicated to mass surveillance It was already a declaration of intentions. After years of doing ethically questionable work, some employees are now beginning to wonder if they are the bad guys in the movie. Friends, realize.
What is happening. They tell it in Wired. Since the beginning of Trump’s second term, Palantir has become a key player in the government’s anti-immigration policy. The company has signed contracts with ICE and its technology makes it possible to identify and deport immigrants in an irregular situation. In addition, it has been used in military operations such as the Iran war, in which a bombing that killed more than 100 children. This has caused an internal crisis, with some current and former employees concerned that the company has gone from “preventing abuse” to directly encouraging it.
Why it is important. Palantir was founded after the 9/11 attacks, a context in which citizen surveillance was justified under the narrative of antiterrorism. Now, Palantir’s technology is being used to surveil its own citizens and is key in attacks that have resulted in fatalities. It’s not that they were little sisters of charity before, but lines are being crossed that are too red even for those who defended them.
lin response to the company. Employee criticism began after the murder of Alex Pretti at the beginning of the year. Within a Slack channel, some employees began to question the company’s relationship with ICE. “In my opinion, ICE are the bad guys. I’m not proud that the company I enjoy working for so much is part of this,” one of them commented.
Palantir responded by deleting the messages several days later, supposedly to prevent leaks. At the same time, the company began to organize question and answer sessions to address any doubts that may arise, as well as the possibility of learning more details under confidentiality contracts. For many employees this was an attempt to silence criticism rather than address it.
The ideological turn. Alex Karp, CEO and co-founder of Palantir, He used to define himself as a socialist and defended Democratic candidates like Joe Biden. However, since 2024 he has become a key ally of Trump and his speech defends authoritarian policies. A few days ago he published a 22 point manifesto in X which has unleashed a wave of criticism for its nationalist and militarized ideas. This text also sparked a conversation on Slack, in which several employees were embarrassed that it had been published using the company’s official account and that several acquaintances had asked them about it.
It will be yes. It is the short answer to the question that employees ask themselves and there are many indications that they are, indeed, the bad guys. They count in The Country that the company accumulates many accusations for not respecting human rights. Already in 2020 I warned him Amnesty International and the consulting firm MSCI gave it a score of 2 out of 10 in civil liberties. Peter Thiel, its founder, says openly who does not believe that “freedom and democracy are compatible.” What is striking is that, knowing the history of the company and the authoritarian ideas of its leaders, there are employees who still have doubts.
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