Trump Expands Palantir’s Federal Reach to Aggregate Personal Data on Americans

In a move that has alarmed privacy experts and watchdog groups, the Trump administration has significantly expanded its collaboration with Palantir Technologies, a data analytics firm founded by Peter Thiel, raising concerns that the U.S. government is compiling a comprehensive digital profile of American citizens.

Since March 2025, following President Trump’s signing of an executive order directing agencies to share data across the federal government, Palantir’s footprint has grown rapidly. Public records show that the company has secured over $113 million in federal funding, not including a recent $795 million contract from the Department of Defense. The expansion marks Palantir’s most extensive integration into federal operations to date.

At the center of the controversy is Palantir’s Foundry platform, a data-fusion system capable of organizing and analyzing massive datasets from disparate sources. According to multiple government officials, Foundry is now active in at least four major federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Health and Human Services (HHS). Palantir is also reportedly in talks with the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — two agencies that hold highly sensitive information on nearly every American.

A Growing Surveillance Concern

While the Trump administration has been publicly quiet about its intentions, sources close to the matter suggest the end goal could be the creation of a centralized government database combining everything from bank account numbers and medical claims to student debt and disability status.

The potential for this kind of data centralization worries civil liberties advocates, who argue that it could easily veer into unconstitutional surveillance.

“This is exactly the kind of unchecked data merger that privacy experts have warned about for years,” said a senior analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “By giving a single platform access to all this information, we’re one step closer to a reality where government overreach becomes normalized.”

A Palantir Presidency?

Palantir, founded by Peter Thiel, a longtime Trump ally and conservative tech investor, has always operated at the intersection of government contracts and controversial data projects. CEO Alex Karp, while often trying to distance the company from overt political entanglements, has defended its work with federal agencies on national security grounds.

The recently published article by the New York Times is blatantly untrue.

Palantir never collects data to unlawfully surveil Americans, and our Foundry platform employs granular security protections. If the facts were on its side, the New York Times would not have needed to…

— Palantir (@PalantirTech) June 3, 2025

But critics argue that this latest expansion goes beyond standard defense contracts. They point to the Trump administration’s repeated desire to tighten control over federal data and question whether the move is setting the stage for widespread digital surveillance of Americans ahead of the 2026 election.

What Comes Next?

As Palantir’s reach continues to grow, questions mount about data governance, civil rights protections, and oversight. The administration has yet to release specifics on how the data will be used, who will have access, and what safeguards, if any, will be in place.

In the meantime, privacy advocates are calling for congressional hearings and independent audits to assess the implications of utilising private technology companies, such as Palantir, in shaping the future of government data collection in the U.S.