Demonstrations Against US Spy Firm Palantir Involvement In The NHS
Patient's personal data being controlled by company involved in genocide
On 3 June 2026, the cross-party House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee called for the government to terminate NHS England's contract with Palantir because the company supports 'highly controversial policies and activities'.
Important demonstrations coming up against Palantir's involvement in our NHS. On Thursday 1st October, patients, NHS workers and activists across England are taking action to say NO to Palantir in our NHS.
The urgency of this action is against the back-drop of an ex-Labour Party deputy leader, Tom Watson, now employed by Palantir as Senior Exec of Palantir UK. If that does not show the corruption of UK politicians, along with the huge cash payments being made by private healthcare interests to Labour Ministers; it is hard to find more obvious examples. This comes as Palantir are facing continued examinations of their involvement in Israel's acts of genocide, their world-wide data processing being used militarilly and by spy aganecies.
The Case Against Palantir
Palantir Technologies, the US data-analytics firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, is facing renewed pressure over the breadth of its government work — spanning Britain's National Health Service, US immigration enforcement, and Israel's military campaign in Gaza.
NHS Federated Data Platform
Palantir has led the consortium running the NHS's Federated Data Platform (FDP) since winning the £330 million, seven-year contract in November 2023, after earlier pandemic-era deals worth over £60 million. A cross-party group of MPs has intensified pressure on the UK government to reconsider the NHS's £330m contract with US technology company Palantir, with the Health and Social Care Committee urging ministers to consider ending the contract. That followed a June recommendation from the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee that the government use a contractual break clause available in February 2027 to find an alternative system.
The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee's report named Palantir as the most concerning example of the public sector's growing reliance on a small number of major technology providers, arguing the NHS could become too dependent on a company not aligned with UK values. More than 100 NHS data and technology specialists wrote to the then Health Secretary, James Murray, calling for the contract's termination, citing insufficient safeguards for patient information. Responsibility for the department now sits with Yvette Cooper, who became Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 20 July 2026 after Prime Minister Andy Burnham's first Cabinet reshuffle, succeeding Murray. Cooper has not yet set out a public position on the Palantir contract specifically, though she has pledged urgent action on maternity services, social care reform and moving the NHS from analogue to digital working.
Palantir has faced sustained criticism from privacy campaigners and healthcare professionals because of its work with defence and security agencies in the UK, the US and Israel. The government confirmed a review of the deal in June, per The Register, while NHS England maintains the FDP was awarded through a competitive tender.
ICE and US immigration enforcement
In the US, Palantir has become central to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's data infrastructure. ICE partnered with Palantir to build "ImmigrationOS," an AI platform meant to identify, track and deport suspected noncitizens, with a $30 million contract running through September 2027. According to the American Immigration Council, Palantir's systems pull data from across government databases — including passport records, Social Security files, IRS tax data and licence-plate reader data — regardless of accuracy.
Reporting from 404 Media, cited by the EFF, describes a related Palantir tool called ELITE that maps potential deportation targets, generates dossiers on individuals, and assigns a "confidence score" to a person's address, drawing in part on Medicaid data. The ACLU notes ICE's case-management contract with Palantir has ballooned to over $145 million, incorporating ImmigrationOS into the existing deal. Per the American Friends Service Committee's tracker, ICE awarded Palantir contracts worth a combined $435 million between 2011 and June 2026.
The arrangement has drawn criticism from rights groups and tech figures alike; Axios reported an NYU Stern policy adviser argued Palantir is complicit in the Trump administration's human rights and constitutional violations by supporting its deportation apparatus.
Israel and Gaza
Palantir opened its first Israeli office in 2015 and has since deepened ties to Israel's military. Following a "strategic partnership" announced with Israel in January 2024, the company significantly expanded operations supporting Israel's military campaign in Gaza and its operations in the occupied West Bank. Advocacy and research groups including the American Friends Service Committee and the tracking platform Open Intel describe this work as enabling what they characterise as war crimes and genocide — the AFSC calls Palantir "a militarized high-tech data analytics firm that enables Israeli war crimes, US deportations and military operations." This characterisation is contested by Israel and Palantir; the International Court of Justice's genocide case against Israel remains ongoing.
Investigative outlet Drop Site News reported that Palantir has a permanent presence at the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Centre in southern Israel and is helping build the technological architecture for tracking Gaza aid deliveries, a role coming as Israel restricts independent aid groups' access to the territory.
In the UK, the company's Israel ties have become entangled with its domestic contracts. Al Jazeera's "Blood Tech" investigation reported that Palantir signed a UK defence contract worth £240 million in January, on top of the NHS deal, amid scrutiny of its links to former UK ambassador Peter Mandelson. Investigative outlet Declassified UK reported that when confronted outside a Ministry of Defence reception, Palantir's UK chief Louis Mosley declined to say whether Israel had "battle-tested" the technology just sold to Britain's military, and the MoD likewise declined to answer.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp has defended the company's military role publicly; per the AFSC, Karp said in February 2026 that "our weapons software is in every combat situation I'm aware of."
Sources: Computing.co.uk / The Register / NHS England / Electronics Weekly / The Lowdown (NHS) / American Immigration Council / ImmPolicyTracking.org / ACLU / Electronic Frontier Foundation / Fortune / Axios / Al Jazeera / Hansard (UK Parliament) / American Friends Service Committee / Drop Site News / Declassified UK / Wikipedia / Pharmaceutical Journal / Building Better Healthcare.
