This is a short summary of Hackney KONP’s work with the Hackney Coalition against Palantir from Marion Macalpine.
With growing interest in Palantir as it is introduced for data purposes into a number of hospitals, the article, references and linked materials, may be of use to other groups.
See also
British Medical Journal Doctors raise safety concerns over Palantir linked AI tool in hospitals
KONP News Mandelson, Palentir and the NHS
KONP webpage Palantir out of the NHS
Hackney KONP have been active campaigning against Palantir for some years. Palantir is a huge US technology corporation, with no previous interest or expertise in health care and whose core business is to provide big data and surveillance support to military, security, intelligence, and police agencies.
Earlier in the 2020s, there was concern that the NHS was about to sign a big contract with Palantir to provide a ‘Federated Data Platform’ to connect all health data across the country. In 2022 we protested at the involvement of Alex Karp, Palantir CEO, in the FT Festival that year in Kenwood. This was picked up by Gillian Tett, at that time Editorial Director of the FT, who wrote a full-page article in the Saturday Magazine quoting from our leaflet.
Shockingly, the NHS went on to sign a £330 million contract with Palantir. However, local trusts have some limited scope to decide how far each trust wishes to get involved with Palantir technology.
In 2025, given we knew that the Homerton, our local hospital, was in the process of making a decision, Hackney KONP linked up initially with the very active and thriving Hackney Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Members of PSC are of course motivated to campaign against Palantir, because of Palantir’s shocking involvement with the Israeli Defence Force.
Initially we worked with them to raise the issue with Hackney Council’s Health in Hackney Scrutiny Commission (the Council body that ‘scrutinises’ how the NHS is working in the borough). We suggested an expert witness Duncan McCann from the Good Law Project to give evidence to the Commission. The councillors present became concerned at the impact of a potential contract with Palantir on local migrant communities, and on the Borough’s application to become a Borough of Sanctuary.
Together with Hackney PSC, we decided to form the Hackney Coalition against Palantir. We contacted Hackney Trades Council and trade union branches; the Socialist Health Association; various minority community organisations; and Hackney Patients not Passports, concerned because of Palantir’s role with Trump’s Immigration, Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) .
We also wrote to all members of the Hackney Cabinet and all councillors, nine of whom support the Coalition. We wrote a comprehensive letter to the Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Chair and CEO, signed by all members of the Coalition. We had been collecting signatures from members of the public and patients indicating their opposition to their data being managed by Palantir, and to the proposed contract. Along with the letter we presented a large stack of signed cards, and a file of printed articles giving information on the risks and ethical concerns of working with Palantir.
So far, response from the Homerton to a question at the Board meeting has been that they were still considering the issue. However, we have got considerable local media coverage and Hackney Council is following up their concerns about the Borough of Sanctuary. We are about to widen the campaign and are linking with other Stop Palantir groups across the country. See the Good Law Project and Just Treatment’s campaign, ‘Say no to Palantir in the NHS’ https://share.google/Zq6wU4K4rg8aXxe2Y
We attach the papers we presented, articles about our actions. Please adapt and use any of the material that you think would be useful in your campaign. Contact us via Hackney KONP local group on this website.
Marion Macalpine, Hackney KONP. December 2025
Letters and information to view and download
◼︎Letter to Homerton Trust from Hackney Coalition Against Palantir 13.04.26
◼︎Reply from Homerton Trust 19.3.26
◼︎ Letter to Homerton Trust
◼︎ Letter from Chief Data and Analytical Officers’ Network (CDAON) to NHS England Feb 25
◼︎ Leaflet/card: side 1 and side 2
Some information about Palantir
- Prospect Magazine How Palantir infiltrated the state: at a moment of national emergency, the government handed our data to Peter Thiel’s controversial company by Mark Wilding 12.11. 2025
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/democracy/government/71511/how-palantir-infiltrated-the-state
- Excerpts from Medact Toolkit on Palantir https://www.medact.org/2024/resources/toolkits/no-palantir-in-the-nhs-campaign-toolkit/
- Foxglove Legal: The NHS Federated Data Platform and Palantir: 7 key risks
Executive Summary June 2023
https://www.foxglove.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023_06_05-FINAL-The-NHS-Federated-Data-Platform-and-Palantir.pdf
- Democracy for Sale Palantir’s NHS data platform rejected by most hospitals
by Lucas Amin and Peter Geoghegan 13.5.https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/palantirs-nhs-data-platform-rejected-hospitals
- Motion passed by the BMA at the Annual Representative meeting23.06.25
“Palantir (inclusive of any associated companies) is an unacceptable choice of partner to create a Federated Data Platform for the NHS. It recognises that this partnership threatens to undermine public trust in NHS data systems, due to a lack of transparency in how the data will be stored and processed, a track record of creating discriminatory policing software in the US, and close links to a US government which shows little regard for international law.”
https://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/arm-2025-bma-passes-resolution-on-health-information-management-and-information-technology - New York Times The most valuable military contractor doesn’t make bombs or guns by Jeff Sommer 14.11.25
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/business/palantir-ai-military-stock-market-.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1E8.C0BI.lp1p0BDEYDUq&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare - BMJ NHS England must cancel its contract with Palantir by Rhiannon Mihranian Osborne, BMJ 1.8.24
BMJ 2024; 386 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.q1712 - Corporate Watch Palantir : International Tech Despot 22.3.24
https://corporatewatch.org/palantir-international-tech-despot/
- Keep Our NHS Public : How our data is being used (2022)
(Not specifically about Palantir)
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