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Dozens of people, young and old, gathered at the end of Hamilton Avenue outside of Palantir’s office in Palo Alto to protest the software company’s collaboration with defense and immigration agencies on Monday afternoon.
Concurrent protests, organized by the youth-led climate advocacy group Planet Over Profit, took place at Palantir’s offices in Washington, D.C., Seattle, New York City and Denver, where the company is headquartered.
Founded two decades ago by billionaires Peter Thiel and Alex Karp, Palantir has long provided software and services to federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. Palantir also works with police departments, private companies and international governments.
In recent years, the company has come under increased scrutiny for its role in surveillance work, raising concerns about privacy and human rights violations. In April, multiple outlets reported that Palantir signed a $30-million agreement with ICE to develop additional software for tracking migrants as immigration authorities ramp up raids in California and across the country. Palantir has also been criticized for its partnership with the Israeli Defense Ministry, announced last January, amid the Israeli military’s ongoing attacks on the besieged Gaza strip, where more than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023. Palantir has also come under fire for its co-founder, Thiel’s, links to Trump administration officials like one-time adviser Elon Musk and Vice President J.D. Vance.
Palantir, which was founded in Palo Alto but which moved its headquarters to Denver in 2020, did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding recent protests.
At Monday’s demonstration, people held handmade signs with phrases like “mass surveillance requires mass resistance” and “no one is illegal on stolen land.” Two people stood at the crosswalk, holding opposite sides of a large white banner that read, “Stop the oligarchy.” Others carried upside-down American flags that billowed in the light breeze. As protestors gathered on the sidewalk, they were met with a cacophony of car horns as passersby honked in support.
After a performance by the Raging Grannies, an activist group of older women who sing protest songs, the demonstrators formed a picket line and chanted: “Say it once, say it twice, Palantir powers ICE.” Three large white rental trucks obscured the view of the front of the building, where the picket line took place, so the protestors took to Alma Street, briefly blocking off the road as two speakers addressed the crowd.
“Palantir’s slogan is, ‘Software that dominates,’” began Joao Paulo Connolly, an organizer with Bay Resistance Silicon Valley. “Who do they want to dominate? You, me, all of us.”
“This struggle against Palantir brings all of our communities together. You may be an immigrant and Palantir software is being used to surveil and monitor you and to report you to ICE or to Homeland Security,” Connolly continued. “You may be a U.S. citizen and you may think Palantir doesn’t affect me. Yes it does. They are constructing a database with data on all U.S. citizens, on all of us, to surveil us and control us.”
(Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order “promoting inter-agency data sharing,” an effort that was initially spearheaded by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, according to Wired. In May, the New York Times reported that Palantir had been enlisted in this effort to integrate distinct data sets across the federal government.)
After Connolly, a Palestinian-American educator with CalSTRS divest, a campaign to divest the California teachers’ pension fund from arms and tech companies supplying Israeli forces, spoke. At the end of the speeches, as the crowd dispersed, some protestors announced that they would be heading to another protest at Tesla headquarters. People also passed out flyers for upcoming protests at other tech companies, underscoring growing resistance to tech billionaires’ alignment with the second Trump administration.
Monday’s protest was the start of an 8-week campaign dubbed, “Stop Billionaires Summer,” which will mostly take place in and around the Bay Area, said Alice Hu, an organizer with Planet Over Profit, in an interview.
“This is just the beginning,” Hu said. “We are going to be here non-violently protesting and making it clear that we know what they’re doing and they can’t get away with it.”
Mountain View nonprofit forgoes federal funding, rather than compromise valuesFebruary 6, 2026 2:20 pm
Hmmm…looks like Palantir is actually doing some good work. Carry on, gentle people…