Palantir Is Helping Trump's IRS Conduct "Massive-Scale" Data Mining
5 hours ago
- #Press Freedom
- #Government Contracts
- #Surveillance
- Palantir's Lead and Case Analytics platform is used by the IRS Criminal Investigation division to analyze extensive sensitive data from Americans for financial crime investigations.
- The IRS has paid over $130 million to Palantir since 2018, integrating data from tax forms, bank statements, cryptocurrency, and Treasury Department sources.
- Privacy concerns are raised due to minimal transparency and Palantir's history in surveillance, with fears of bias, overreach, and targeting of specific groups.
- The IRS's use of Palantir began under Trump and expanded under Biden, with reports of a shift toward investigating left-leaning groups and aiding aggressive administrative agendas.
- The Intercept warns of authoritarian trends under Trump, including attacks on press freedom and democracy, urging support for independent journalism to counteract this.