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. 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).
