Unsplash Image. From ICE Deportation To Israeli War Tech: Why Palantir’s £330M NHS Health Deal Has Privacy Tech Experts Scared Of Being Hunted by Tech Is The Culture
Palantir Or The Pentagon?
Welcome to the era where your medical records are managed by a company named after a mystical seeing stone that usually leads to a wizard’s downfall. If you haven’t been following the corporate soap opera that is Palantir, sit down, grab a caffeinated beverage, and let’s talk about why your GP’s database is starting to look a lot like a Pentagon situation room.
The Big Brother Of Health (The NHS Deal)
In late 2023, NHS England officially handed over a £330 million contract to a consortium led by Palantir. It was for something called the Federated Data Platform (FDP) (Digital Health). For the uninitiated, the FDP is supposed to be the data plumbing for the NHS, connecting disparate systems so doctors actually know if there’s a bed available before you arrive in the ambulance.
Does it work? Palantir’s own case studies claim a 12% increase in theater utilization at Croydon Health Services. A 36% reduction in long-term hospital stays at North Tees and Hartlepool (Palantir UK Healthcare). On paper, that’s great. In reality, it means the Eye of Sauron is now watching your hip replacement.
Hunting In The USA (The ICE Connection)
The worry that Palantir might hunt citizens isn’t just a fever dream. This is based on their work with USA ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). In April 2025, ICE awarded Palantir a $30 million contract to build ImmigrationOS (Immigration Policy Tracking).
This platform provides near real-time visibility for targeting individuals for deportation. This is specifically focusing on visa overstays and so called violent criminals. It doesn’t physically hunt people—Palantir doesn’t have a tactical squad in tactical vests. But it provides the digital map that ICE uses to knock on doors and drag people out. It turns messy, fragmented data into a clear Who, Where, and When.
The War Tech Pedigree (Israel & Palestine)
Adding fuel to the fire is Palantir’s strategic partnership with the Israel Ministry of Defense, solidified in early 2024 to support war-related missions (Bloomberg/Palantir). Reports from investigators at The Nation and other advocacy groups have alleged that Palantir’s AI tools are used for targeting systems in Gaza (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre). When your software is used to generate target lists in a conflict zone, people tend to get a little twitchy when that same software is used to manage their grandma’s diabetes medication.
Is Your Data Safe?
Here is the tech expert’s cold take: Palantir is the tool, not the hand. In the UK, the NHS retains control of the data, and Palantir is technically a processor. However, privacy groups like Foxglove and the Good Law Project argue that the de-identified data being used in the FDP still carries risks. Especially since Type 1 Opt-outs don’t always apply to these specific data flows (Labour Hub).
Will they hunt UK citizens? Not in the Terminator sense. But as we’ve seen with ICE, data linkage makes it incredibly easy for the government to find you if they decide you’re a priority. Palantir isn’t the hunter; they’re the guy who unethically sold the hunter the thermal goggles to theoretically find you.
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