Palantir Technologies has emerged as one of the most powerful and controversial companies of the modern era, quietly embedding its data-analytics software across governments, militaries, intelligence agencies, and major corporations while remaining largely unknown to the public.
Founded in the aftermath of 9/11, the company specialises in software that ingests vast amounts of data and rapidly identifies patterns, connections, and trends that would otherwise evade human analysts. Its clients have included the U.S. military, intelligence agencies, immigration authorities, and foreign security services, alongside private-sector giants such as Airbus and major retailers. Critics argue this reach grants Palantir extraordinary, largely unaccountable power, particularly because the company does not control how clients ultimately use its tools.
At the centre of Palantir is its chief executive Alex Karp, a highly unconventional figure whose personal ideology and public statements have drawn as much attention as the technology itself. Once identifying as a ‘progressive’ and warning about the dangers of fascism, he has since aligned closely with right-wing politics and openly embraced a more hawkish worldview, arguing that Palantir plays a central role in ‘preserving Western civilisation’. Karp has repeatedly stated that the company’s software saves lives—and “on occasion” helps take them—remarks that have fuelled concerns about the normalisation of lethal decision-making through private technology platforms.
The other key figure in the company is venture capitalist Peter Thiel, whose support has helped shape the company’s deep ties to U.S. government power.
The company’s software is not surveillance technology in itself, but it acts as a powerful integrator, pulling together data streams that may include surveillance footage, phone records, license plate data, and intelligence reports to produce a unified operational picture. This capability has made Palantir indispensable to many clients, to the point where even critics acknowledge it would be difficult for future governments to abandon the platform without disrupting core operations. That perceived indispensability, supporters argue, proves its value; detractors say it is precisely what makes the company dangerous.
Palantir’s role in immigration enforcement, overseas military operations, and intelligence work has repeatedly sparked controversy, with protests and public backlash over its work with agencies accused of rights abuses. While company insiders have denied involvement in certain high-profile AI targeting systems, they have acknowledged that Palantir does not rigorously police how customers deploy its software once access is granted, leaving significant potential for misuse. Control over data access and enforcement of safeguards largely rests with the client, not the company.
The firm’s political influence has also grown alongside its commercial success. Its leadership has cultivated close relationships with powerful figures across the US security establishment, while openly courting favour with political leaders seen as supportive of an expanded security state. This has raised fears that Palantir represents a form of “state capture” by Silicon Valley, where private technology firms shape policy not through democratic mandate but through technological dependence.
As warfare, policing, and governance become increasingly data-driven, Palantir sits at the centre of a shift toward algorithmic power—one that blurs the line between public authority and private enterprise. Supporters see a company making governments more efficient in a dangerous world. Critics see something far darker: a technology firm whose tools, ideology, and influence risk redefining the relationship between individuals and the state, with consequences that may only become fully visible once they are impossible to reverse.
Mehdi Hasan of Zeteo News recently spoke with author and journalist Michael Steinberger about his book The Philosopher in the Valley. In the interview, Steinberger draws on years of reporting and access to Palantir’s leadership to examine the company’s power, politics, and global influence, as many brand the secretive corporate entity ‘the world’s most evil company’.
