28/09/2026
Over 100 civil society organisations and unions, including The Good Lobby, Corporate Europe Observatory, Transparency International, European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), and Global Justice Now, asked European governments and the EU itself to terminate all existing public sector contracts with the US tech company Palantir. This controversial company makes tools and software widely used by governments for surveillance and AI warfare.
Links to far-right projects and oppression
The letter argues that Palantir can’t be trusted, as its controversial activities “disqualify it from involvement in the operations and functioning of democratic governments”, notably:
- In the US, Palantir has supplied data mining tools to ICE, which uses them to track migrants and trawl through information including social media posts, location history and health data.
- Its software has been used in predictive policing in Los Angeles and New Orleans, a practice the letter says “automates and deepens the impact of existing institutional biases”.
- Its tools are used by the Israeli military, and its CEO has expressed pride in the company’s support for Israel, even as the state faces genocide proceedings at the International Court of Justice.
And yet, despite this record, Palantir has been handed public sector contracts throughout Europe, ranging from healthcare to military and policing.
Corporate capture and dangerous dependence
Palantir’s advance into public institutions poses particular risks to civil rights and democracy. Its technologies facilitate increased surveillance and amplify the repressive powers of the state, and they are being adopted with little debate or transparency. Meanwhile, the company has exploited loopholes to pay extremely low rates of tax in some European countries while winning lucrative taxpayer-funded contracts. As the letter puts it, “Palantir is a drain on public wealth.”Dependence on a single company for key services is also a threat to national and popular sovereignty. Access to sensitive data, entrenchment across the state and the risk of vendor lock-in expose public services and national infrastructure to substantial financial and political risk. It also ties the state to a company whose billionaire leadership, the letter says, has made statements that run counter to ideas of popular power, equality and democracy.
Some are already acting
The letter notes that Switzerland has rejected Palantir bids at least nine times and Spain has banned its state companies from taking on new contracts, while the Netherlands and Denmark are seeking to end reliance on the firm. Yet Palantir keeps winning contracts, and European finance is deepening its stake: over 2025, more than 100 of the continent’s largest banks, asset managers, insurers and pension funds increased their combined holdings by nearly 70 per cent, worth at least $27 billion by year’s end.
What the letter demands
European governments and public institutions should:
- Terminate contracts with Palantir Technologies and permanently ban the company from future public contracts.
- Develop alternative data solutions compatible with public service, with transparent mechanisms for safeguarding people from mass surveillance.
- Protect democracy and guard against the rise of the far right by investing in and democratising public institutions, providing good jobs and services.
- Work to build international coalitions against corporate capture by companies like Palantir, building and sharing alternative technological developments.
- Divest Europe’s public finance institutions from Palantir.
Europe Balanced Economy Project
Coalition for Women in Journalism
Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice
European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine
European Digital Rights (EDRi)
European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU)
International Trade Union Confederation