Palantir’s long-winded political mission statement posted over the weekend seems to be backfiring, potentially putting its government contracts in the United Kingdom at risk.
Several U.K. members of Parliament have publicly criticized the post, while other officials are signaling that the National Health Service (NHS) could back out of its seven-year, 330 million pound ($445.8 million) contract with the company early.
Palantir posted Saturday what many are calling a manifesto on X. The post consists of a 22-point summary of The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West, a book co-written by CEO Alex Karp.
It argues that Silicon Valley “owes a moral debt” to the U.S. and must defend it, and claims that “Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive.”
For a company actively seeking government contracts around the world, the post makes its pretty explicit who the company’s ultimate allegiance belongs to.
Other points in the post argue that Silicon Valley plays a role in addressing violent crime, that AI weapons are inevitable, and that the U.S. should “seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force.”
The message did not go over well across the pond, where Palantir has secured more than 500 million pounds ($675.6 million) in contracts in Britain, including its 330 million-pound ($445.6 million) NHS deal, according to The Guardian.
“Palantir’s manifesto, which embraces AI state surveillance of citizens along with national service in the USA, is either a parody of a RoboCop film, or a disturbing narcissistic rant from an arrogant organisation,” said Martin Wrigley, a Liberal Democrat MP and member of the Commons science and technology select committee, The Guardian reported. “Either way it shows that the company’s ethos is entirely unsuited to working on UK government projects involving citizens’ most sensitive private data.”
Victoria Collins, another Liberal Democrat MP, said the manifesto sounded like the “ramblings of a supervillain.”
“A company that has such naked ideological motivations and lack of respect for democratic rule of law should be nowhere near our public services,” she said.
And it seems like the complaints may not just be all talk.
The Register reports that the U.K. government could potentially exit its NHS deal with Palantir early. Speaking at Westminster Hall on Monday, Junior Health Minister Zubir Ahmed said the contract could be reassessed during a break clause scheduled for next spring.
“My north star is always patient safety and quality, and of course, value for money. If, at the point of the break clause, we evaluate and find that there are other providers that can do the job better, then of course that needs to be looked at and reflected upon,” he said.
Beyond the social media post, some MPs have also raised concerns about the platform itself. According to The Register, critics have described the system as “awful” to use and questioned how useful it has been for many organizations across the NHS. There have also been complaints about limited control over the system and a lack of intellectual property rights for the NHS.
“Palantir software is helping to increase NHS operations, reduce the time it takes to diagnose cancer, keep Royal Navy ships at sea for longer, and protect women and children from domestic violence,” a Palantir spokesperson told Gizmodo in an emailed statement. “We are proud that support is being provided by the 17 per cent of our workforce who are based in the UK – the highest proportion among the world’s 20 biggest tech companies.”
