CEO boasts his booming firm that ‘powers ICE’ is the first ‘completely anti-woke’ company
Palantir founder and CEO Alex Karp claimed on an earnings call this week that his company is the first to be ‘completely anti-woke.’
He repeatedly said Palantir, a surveillance software firm that builds tools to help governments and corporations work with large data sets, is supporting the ‘American warfighter’ and is committed to free speech.
He told investors that they are ‘fighting for the right side of what should work in this country,’ which included ‘lethal technology’ and products that enrich working class men and women.
Palantir raked in nearly $1.2 billion in the third quarter ending in September, a 63 percent year over year increase.
Karp, who is worth $18.4 billion largely thanks to Palantir’s stock appreciation over the last several years, boasted about how his company powers Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other war efforts around the world.
‘We power efforts to defend America and Ukraine,’ he said. ‘We’re on the front line of all adversaries, including vis-a-vis China… and we’ve supported Israel.’
‘I don’t know why this is all controversial, but many people find that controversial,’ he added.
Not everyone at the company is on board with its move toward supporting the Trump administration’s domestic and foreign policy objectives.
Alex Karp, founder and CEO of Palantir, said his company is the first to be ‘completely anti-woke.’ He also touted his employees’ commitment to free speech
Palantir headquarters in Palo Alto, California. The firm is booming after it raked in nearly $1.2 billion in the third quarter of this year
Palantir’s communications chief, Lisa Gordon, called the company’s political shift ‘concerning’ in an interview at a summit hosted by tech news site The Information in late October.
‘I think it’s going to be challenging, as a lot of the company is moving pro-Trump, you know, is moving in a certain direction,’ she said at the women-focused panel.
She also described Karp as ‘very progressive’ but ‘frustration with the Democrats has moved him in a certain direction.’
Karp supported former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump last November.
Karp recently said he supports Trump’s posture on immigration and national security.
The pivot came after Palantir was awarded a $30 million contract in April to build ‘ImmigrationOS’, which helps ICE decide who to deport and track those who are self deporting.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began using it in late September, despite lawsuits from privacy advocates who say the system tramples on people’s civil rights.
Palantir has defended itself by saying it is only providing a tool and is not actively deciding who gets deported.
Palantir has had a long relationship with the Department of Homeland Security. It has provided multiple data analytics tools to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to assist in arresting and deporting illegal immigrants
Protesters have taken to cities across to country, including New York, to demonstrate against ICE arrests
The company has had a close relationship with ICE and elements of DHS since at least 2010, when it first supplied the Homeland Security Investigations division with FALCON.
This system, which is still used, allows ICE agents to perform detailed searches for criminal suspects using phone records, driver’s licenses, employment history, financial transactions and more.
Palantir has also worked with large city police forces, most notably the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
The LAPD’s Operation Laser used Palantir software to predict where crime was the most likely to happen.
This so-called predictive policing was based on where gun-related crimes, arrests and 911 calls most often originated.
The LAPD shut down Operation Laser in April 2019 after critics said it was a new form of discrimination against minority communities.
Palantir had a similar arrangement with the New Orleans Police Department from 2012 to 2018, unbeknownst to the city council members. Again, the program was shuttered once the public became aware.
