Trump Taps Palantir to Create Master Database on Every American

Summary of the article ::: spoiler spoiler

Trump Taps Palantir to Create Master Database on Every American

The Trump administration is collecting data on all Americans, and they are enlisting the data analysis company Palantir to do it. The New York Times reports that President Trump has enlisted the firm, founded by far-right billionaire Peter Thiel, to carry out his March executive order instructing government agencies to share data with each other.

Meanwhile, Palantir has taken more than $113 million in government spending since Trump took office, from both existing contracts and new ones with the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. Palantir is speaking with various other agencies across the federal government, including the Social Security Administration and the IRS, about buying its technology, according to the Times.

The administration’s efforts to compile data began under Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative, which sought Americans’ personal data from multiple agencies including the IRS, the SSA, Selective Service, Medicare, and many others.

Thiel already has multiple ties to DOGE, both through Musk and through many of his former employees working for the effort or taking other jobs in the Trump administration.

And this data collection effort could give Thiel, Musk, and Trump unprecedented power over Americans, with the president being better able to punish his critics and target immigrants. Palantir’s involvement also gives a powerful tech company access to this data, and its CEO, Alex Karp, doesn’t exactly have a benign agenda, hoping to cash in on American techno-militarism. :::