Techdenkers: Inside Palantir

Palantir is one of the most powerful and most mysterious companies in the world. The American tech giant, co-founded by MAGA supporter Peter Thiel, provides essential and controversial technology to (Western) militaries and police forces. The Dutch government is also a client. How desirable is that?

Palantir, named after the magical seeing stones from Lord of the Rings, develops software that can link, analyze, and visualize enormous amounts of data. The company supplies armies, intelligence agencies, and police services: from the Ukrainian military to help hold back the Russians to the U.S. immigration enforcement agency ICE to track down migrants.

The Netherlands has also been using Palantir technology for years, largely outside public view, according to research by Follow the Money. The Dutch military has worked with it since 2010; the National Police uses the software as the core of its data platform for combating serious crime. Large volumes of police data – from incident reports to telecom and location data – are made searchable and analyzable through a single system. Palantir itself states that it only provides a platform and does not process the data.

This use raises fundamental questions. How transparent are these systems? Who oversees the algorithms? What safeguards exist against errors, bias, or wrongful suspicion? And what does it mean for our digital sovereignty?

About the speakers:

Richard Evans is a member of Palantir’s Privacy & Civil Liberties Engineering Team (PCL), working at the intersection of policy, ethics, law and software engineering, and helping to ensure that Palantir’s platforms are built and deployed in ways that uphold rights to privacy and other civil liberties. Based in London, Richard has worked across Palantir’s UK defence, UK healthcare, and international public sector businesses since joining the company in 2017. Richard was previously lawyer in the New Zealand Government, focused on public and constitutional law.

Ellen Mok is the founder of Digitale Doetank, a mission-driven advisory firm focused on digital sovereignty and the strategic use of (emerging) technologies. With a background in cyber strategy and national security, she previously worked at KPMG as Manager Cyber Strategy & Risk, where she helped establish the nation-state threats team, and at the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) as a Cyber Security Advisor and Researcher. Ellen holds two MSc degrees: one in Engineering & Policy Analysis (TU Delft) and another in Crisis & Security Management (Leiden University). She combines technical knowledge with political experience, being a candidate for the European Parliament with D66. Her focus areas include digital sovereignty, tech policy, and national security.

Jochem de Groot is director of policy at NLdigital, the trade association of the Dutch digital sector. He wrote the book “Kolonisten van de Cloud” (Colonists of the Cloud), about the geopolitical role of tech companies. He is connected to the Advisory Council of International Affairs and the Netherlands Atlantic Association. Furthermore, he has worked at Microsoft, Philips and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.