Thousands call on UK ministers to cut ties with US tech giant Palantir
More than 200,000 people have called on ministers to break contracts with Palantir in an apparent groundswell of public concern about the US tech company’s role in the NHS, police, military and councils.Two petitions have attracted 229,000 signatures, one calling for the government to end all public contracts with the company, the software of which is used by Donald Trump’s ICE immigration enforcement programme and the Israeli military, and another urging the health secretary, Wes Streeting, to cancel its £330m patient data contract with the NHS.This week, the Guardian revealed the Metropolitan police was in talks to use the company’s AI to analyse sensitive intelligence, and Palantir published a manifesto described by one MP as the “ramblings of a supervillain”.But the tech company is pushing back against the multipronged campaign challenging its work in the UK by taking issue with claims made widely on social media by the Green party leader, Zack Polanski, and the legal campaigner Jolyon Maugham, who this week launched a podcast investigation into Palantir.The Liberal Democrats are also calling for the NHS contract to be cancelled and new contracts to be halted.
Matthew McGregor, the chief executive at 38 Degrees, the campaigning organisation that promoted the petitions, said: “Almost a quarter of a million people have said loud and clear: they don’t want a company like Palantir, whose technology is used by ICE and the Israeli army, to have access to their most sensitive data.”Referring to the manifesto that was published by the company’s US operation at the weekend, which said free and democratic societies need “hard power” to prevail, he added: “The government need to act fast and trigger the break clause on these lucrative contracts now.”Palantir has £600m worth of contracts with UK public bodies and may soon extend that, with talks continuing with Scotland Yard to use the company’s AI technology to automate intelligence analysis for criminal investigations.If a deal is confirmed it would represent a significant expansion in Palantir’s involvement in UK law enforcement.It also has a £240m contract with the Ministry of Defence and has this week renewed a contract with Coventry city council thought to be worth £750,000.
It also has deals with Bedfordshire police and Leicestershire police, among other constabularies.Palantir’s UK chief executive, Louis Mosley, has been seeking to rebut criticism of the company, sometimes using internet memes, in what has become a highly public PR fight.Maugham used social media to describe the Good Law Project’s podcast as looking into “what happens when you take an antichrist-obsessed billionaire and a company named after an evil seeing stone in The Lord of the Rings and you put them at the heart of the NHS”.Moseley responded by posting a meme from the US sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, suggesting critics were engaged in a conspiracy theory.He also posted on X: “Note to diary: box @ZachPolanski [Polanski’s actual X account is @ZackPolanski] Tuesday, wrestle Jolyon Maugham on Thursday.
Leaving Friday open in case @EdwardJDavey fancies a fencing match.”Polanski’s campaign against Palantir has been equally vigorous, but not always accurate.This week he launched an online video which claimed wrongly that Peter Thiel was its chief executive and called it a spyware company.Moseley challenged this and called it “technically defamatory” as spyware is illegal malicious software that enters a user’s computer, but he added “don’t worry, we are not suing”.Thiel, a Trump-supporting tech billionaire, was Palantir’s co-founder.
“We have a chance to get this dangerous company out of our NHS and all of our public services,” Polanski said.“Ministers must listen to the public and end this appalling contract now.”Palantir says its software helps increase the number of NHS operations carried out, reduces the time it takes to diagnose cancer, keeps Royal Navy ships at sea for longer, and protects women and children from domestic violence.The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods:The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories.
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US justice department drops criminal investigation against Jerome Powell
The US Department of Justice is dropping its criminal investigation against the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, clearing the path for Donald Trump’s new nominee for chair to be confirmed.Jeanine Pirro, Trump’s appointed US attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a social media post that she had directed her office to close its investigation into renovations at the Fed headquarters that went over budget.“I have directed my office to close our investigation as the [inspector general’s office] undertakes this inquiry,” Pirro wrote. “Note well, however, that I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so.”The investigation was first made public in January after Powell released a video announcing he had been subpoenaed by the justice department
UK eases airline penalties as jet fuel shortages threaten flights
Penalties on airlines that cancel UK flights because of jet fuel shortages have been eased, it has emerged, as the government issued fresh advice to reassure the public they can still fly and should stick to travel plans.Airlines that cancel owing to a lack of fuel will not lose their rights to valuable takeoff and landing slots at busy airports, which can be forfeited when flights fail to operate over a period.The change was one of the demands from airlines, which have been lobbying for government help in the face of rising fuel prices and a possible supply crisis.Exemptions from the “use it or lose it” rule can now be granted during shortages by Airport Coordination Limited, the independent body that manages slots at UK airports. The government said the change would allow carriers to “focus on minimising disruption” rather than flying to protect slots
TikTok and Visa launch debit card to speed payouts to UK creators
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Officials hugely underestimated impact of AI datacentres on UK carbon emissions
The UK government vastly underestimated the climate impact of artificial intelligence, it has emerged, after officials raised their estimate of carbon emissions from AI by a factor of more than 100.According to new data quietly published this week, energy use by AI datacentres in the UK could cause the emission of up to 123m tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) – about as much as generated by 2.7 million people – over the next 10 years.That latest figure replaces a previous estimate – since deleted – that claimed emissions would reach a maximum of 0.142m tonnes of CO₂ in a single year
Atkinson made to wait as Essex impress at Oval: county cricket, day one – as it happened
The crowd spread on to the Oval outfield at lunch like a lapping wave, enjoying the picture-book day and entertained by Gus Atkinson’s first proper run out since the Boxing Day Test.Atkinson opened the bowling against Essex from the pavilion end, that now familiar toes-together, baby-steps approach, an opening spell on the money but he had to wait until after 6pm for his reward - Michael Pepper bowled tifter and boots. The pitch was friendly and Dean Elgar (92) and Paul Walter, with an excellent 101, duly tucked in, adding 183 for the first wicket. Surrey’s bowlers clawed back in the afternoon leaving the match evenly poised.Joe Root, too, was making his County Championship debut for the summer, Yorkshire cap pulled tight, scooping up a bread and butter edge from James Coles at first slip and trundling through five overs
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