What is Palantir? The secretive tech company behind Trumps data collection efforts

Last Friday, the New York Times published an explosive report on the Trump administration's work with Palantir, which could result in the creation of a master database with information on every single American. Per the Times, if this type of "master list" was created, it would give the president "untold surveillance power."

President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this year enabling the federal government to share data on Americans across U.S. agencies. However, we now know more about how the administration intends to do it.

Trump has tapped the tech firm Palantir, co-founded by Trump and Republican megadonor Peter Thiel, to carry out these efforts. The New York Times reported that Palantir's technology would make it possible to compile sensitive information from agencies like the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Internal Revenue Service. Various government databases already include information on Americans' bank account numbers, medical claims, disabilities, student debt amounts, and more, though not in one central place.

The Trump administration has said that it's looking to “eliminate information silos and streamline data collection across all agencies to increase government efficiency and save hard-earned taxpayer dollars.” However, the specter of a central database is a nightmare for privacy watchdogs, and has even raised privacy and security concerns from former Palantir employees.

What is Palantir?

Over the past few years, Palantir has become a leading data and analytics company. While Palantir does provide its services to corporate clients, the company's most prominent and controversial work has been for the federal government, specifically for the U.S. military and intelligence agencies, as well as governments around the world.

Palantir was founded in the early 2000s by right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, along with venture capitalists and entrepreneurs Joe Lonsdale, Stephen Cohen, and Alex Karp, who currently serves as the company's CEO. Thiel chose the name Palantir after the crystal balls used in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

Who is Peter Thiel?

If any of those names sounds familiar to you, it's likely Thiel's. One of the co-founders of PayPal, Thiel is a secretive Silicon Valley titan and conservative "kingmaker". In fact, it was Thiel that eventually ousted Elon Musk, a fellow co-founder who was serving as PayPal CEO at the time, from the company. After, Musk's ousting, Thiel himself took over as PayPal CEO in 2000. In 2004, Thiel became the first outside investor in Facebook, turning his $500,000 investment into more than $1 billion.

Why is Palantir so controversial?

Palantir presents itself as a data and analytics company, but it also has a reputation for being highly secretive about its data mining and surveillance work. Palantir has also been criticized for providing intelligence services to aid the Israeli military in the 2023 Israel-Hamas war. CEO Karp has previously confirmed that Palantir provides intelligence services to the IDF. In response, Palantir has defended its work with Israel and has denied accusations of aiding war crimes, as its fiercest critics allege. Palantir has also been tapped to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) track immigrants in the U.S. as part of the Trump Administration's highly controversial policing and deportation efforts.

The company has been heavily criticized by data privacy advocates, anti-war protesters, and other organizations over the years.

Why would the Trump Administration tap Palantir to collect data on Americans?

Palantir has already been contracted by the federal government for years now. For example, Palantir previously worked with Health and Human Services to help track the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, since Trump's inauguration earlier this year, Palantir's revenue and stock have skyrocketed. Palantir has received more than $113 million from the federal government in 2025 so far. In addition to that, the Department of Defense just awarded Palantir with a $795 million contract last week. According to Palantir's final quarterly report for 2024, the company made $1.2 billion in revenue from the U.S. government that year.

In addition, Palantir co-founder Thiel is also a major Republican donor. He's contributed tens of millions of dollars to Republican congressional campaigns over the years, as well as $1.25 million to Trump's 2016 campaign. 

According to the New York Times, Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) were broadly responsible for the selection of Palantir for the data collection project. A number of DOGE employees have previously worked for Palantir or other companies funded by Thiel.