Democrats demand answers as Palantir faces heat over Trump deals to build massive American data hub
government contracts
the company got. The lawmakers are worried that Palantir is helping make a huge database of Americans private information, which might break U.S. laws, according to reports by the Associated Press and New York Times.
Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York wrote the letter and was signed by Senators Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, Ed Markey. They pointed to a New York Times report that said Palantir got hundreds of millions of dollars in new government contracts during Trump's second term, as per the report by Common Dreams.
According to the letter, Palantir employees are working inside the IRS to help build a single, searchable database of taxpayer records. This private taxpayer data could be shared across the government, even when it's not related to tax stuff, which is likely illegal under U.S. law.
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Palantir's tools were reportedly chosen for this project by a group called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is led by Elon Musk. Several people in DOGE are said to be former Palantir employees.
Why lawmakers are alarmed
The lawmakers called the mega-database plan a 'surveillance nightmare', saying it could help Trump spy on people he sees as enemies. They warned that Palantir's software could be used in domestic spying that violates Americans' rights, according to the report by Common Dreams.
Live Events
The letter listed Trump's past actions that they believe show he misused power, including threatening to arrest the governor of California, using National Guard troops for immigration raids without approval, sending Marines to Los Angeles against local wishes, and calling the press 'the enemy of the people'.
Palantir's controversies
The lawmakers said Palantir also helped with ICE deportation operations and deadly military actions carried out by the U.S. and its allies. The letter didn't mention Palantir's role in Project Nimbus, a cloud deal with Israel's military, Amazon, and Google, which some say is linked to human rights abuses, as stated in the report by Common Dreams.
But the lawmakers did say that other big companies like IBM, Cisco, and Honeywell have also been part of human rights abuses in places like Nazi Germany, apartheid South Africa, China, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
They asked the CEO to provide a full list of Palantir's government contracts. The amount of money for each and the federal agencies involved. Whether Palantir has any limits when it comes to working with groups that violate human rights, as reported by Common Dreams.
FAQs
Q1. Why are Democrats asking questions about Palantir?
Because they think Palantir is helping build a big database of Americans' private info that might break U.S. laws.
Q2. What do they want from Palantir's CEO?
They want details about the company's government contracts and whether it follows human rights rules.
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