Tweet

openDemocracy

24 Aug, 9 tweets, 3 min read

Do you remember Palantir?

The ‘spy tech’ firm has been awarded more than £46m in public contracts by the UK government and NHS since the start of 2020.

Well, they made £22m in profits last year.

All the details in this thread 👇

First of all, let's look back at 2020.

Last year, we successfully sued the government, forcing it to commit to not extending Palantir’s contract beyond the COVID pandemic without a consultation
opendemocracy.net/en/ournhs/weve…

Palantir had increased its lobbying of Conservative ministers before being awarded a crucial NHS contract.

It embarked on a charm offensive to sell services to the NHS in 2019.

By January 2020, it was working on a product for the UK’s healthcare market
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…

But what's the problem?

Experts have warned that contracts with the secretive company could involve an “unprecedented” transfer of patients’ sensitive health information

@EinsteinsAttic

.@EinsteinsAttic, coordinator of campaign group @medConfidential, said it is “alarming” that Palantir is being embedded into “critical functions” within the NHS.

“Who said or even asked if using mass-surveillance tools in our public services should become ‘business as usual’?”

Now, the Silicon Valley company’s UK arm has revealed it made huge profits in 2020 – having made a financial loss the year before.

The company’s latest accounts boast of “the increasing value of our business with Her Majesty’s government”

Co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel – who has also funded Donald Trump – Palantir worked to support the CIA’s counterinsurgency and intelligence operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Other clients have included the FBI, the US Army, and the US Special Operations Command

@martinrw

We have now discovered that a number of former Palantir officials have gone on to work for the government.

Read the full story by @martinrw 👇
opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-…

We need your support to continue investigating these stories.

We're not funded by dark money, lucrative advertising deals, or paywalls.

Please consider supporting our independent journalism: support.opendemocracy.net/project/home

We really couldn't do it without you! 🙏

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @openDemocracy

openDemocracy

@openDemocracy

6 Sep

🔴 A former UK electoral commissioner has condemned the UK government’s “appalling” plan to restrict the independence of the elections watchdog.

Professor David Howarth said the #ElectionsBill poses “serious threats to the fairness of all future elections in Britain”.

~thread

Writing for us, Professor David Howarth said that "many Conservative backbenchers have been gunning for the Electoral Commission ever since it made various decisions they didn’t like in the aftermath of the Brexit campaign"
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…

The #ElectionsBill is set to be debated in the Commons this week.

According to Howarth, it could subject the Electoral Commission to potential political oversight from government ministers

Read 7 tweets

openDemocracy

@openDemocracy

12 Jul

"By the time I came out of there, I weighed only 40kgs, could not speak well and only walked when supported."

We spoke to more than 50 survivors of anti-LGBT ‘#ConversionTherapy’ on a special investigation into these activities across East Africa.

~thread

Many of the interviewees said that family members had taken them to providers of this ‘therapy’.

LGBT identities are widely stigmatised in East Africa, and anal sex is criminalised and punishable with prison sentences in each of the three countries
opendemocracy.net/en/5050/conver…

Our undercover reporter was told that being gay is “evil”, something “for whites” and a mental health problem

Read 6 tweets

openDemocracy

@openDemocracy

8 Jun

WE WON! 🙌

This is a significant legal victory against the UK government.

The judgement forces transparency on a secretive unit accused of ‘blacklisting’ Freedom of Information requests from journalists, campaigners and others.

~thread

After a three-year battle, the judge found that the documents the Cabinet Office presented in court about the controversial Clearing House unit were ‘misleading’.

He added that there is a “profound lack of transparency about the operation”, which might “extend to ministers”

We previously revealed that the Clearing House has blocked the release of politically sensitive information, in one instance comparing the handling of an FOI request to the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war
opendemocracy.net/en/freedom-of-…

Read 6 tweets

openDemocracy

@openDemocracy

8 Jun

@Foxglovelegal

🚨 BREAKING: The #NHSDataGrab has been paused!

Thank you to @Foxglovelegal, to our coalition partners (@TheDA_UK, @DavidDavisMP, @justtreatment and @allthecitizens) and to the over 18,000 people who signed our petition. 🙏

But this is a pause, not a stop.

~ thread

The implementation has been pushed back to 1 September.

However, the Government's plan to take the data of every GP patient in England remains the same.

If you aren't satisfied with what's happening to your health records, you can still opt out: medconfidential.org/how-to-opt-out/

We still have questions:

🔹 How will patients be notified, including people who aren't online?

🔹 On what terms will corporations be allowed to access people's health data?

But the first battle is won. 💪

If you signed our petition, we will update you via email ✉️

Read 5 tweets

openDemocracy

@openDemocracy

8 Jun

Tory rebels are not the only ones calling for a vote on plans to cut Britain’s international aid budget.

More than 10,000 people have signed our petition to allow MPs to vote on this move 👇
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…

A total of 30 Tory MPs, led by Andrew Mitchell MP, have supported an amendment to reverse the cuts.

During one of our live discussions, Mr Mitchell said the government believed reducing #ForeignAid would “go down well” with voters in the ‘Red Wall’ seats

@PeterKGeoghegan

The scale of the cuts was exclusively revealed by @PeterKGeoghegan earlier this year.

Spending in some of the poorest countries would be cut by as much as 88%
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…

Read 6 tweets

openDemocracy

@openDemocracy

4 Jun

@Foxglovelegal

🔴 We are joining forces with @Foxglovelegal to issue an urgent legal challenge over the government's plans to seize our GP data on 1 July.

We need your help to stop them: opendemocracy.net/en/ournhs/peti…

~ thread

Matt Hancock wants to take the patient records of everyone in England, and enter them all into one massive database.

He wants to make this data available to "third parties" – including private companies
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…

This would mean incredibly sensitive data about all of us who use the NHS – including sexual and mental health – being pooled and shared.

The Health Secretary announced this plan quietly, via a single website, and set a deadline of 23 June for us to opt out

Read 7 tweets

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!