Palantir:
The seeing stone
comes to Germany

The "seeing stones" from Silicon Valley

The name comes from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: the Palantíri were magical orbs that allowed their bearers to see everything everywhere — while simultaneously allowing any bearer to be observed by others. No founder of a surveillance company could have chosen a more fitting name.

Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture capitalists, founded Palantir Technologies in 2003 together with Alex Karp, Nathan Gettings, Joe Lonsdale and Stephen Cohen. The trigger was 11 September 2001. The idea: link data from the most diverse sources so that intelligence agencies can track down terrorists — before they strike.

The company itself describes its core philosophy as "BigData for BigBrother" — a phrase cited in reports by the US civil liberties organisation ACLUACLUAmerican Civil Liberties Union — the oldest and most influential civil rights organisation in the United States. Has defended fundamental rights in court since 1920.. The client list reads like a who's who of the military-industrial complex: CIA, FBI, NSA, Pentagon, US Marines, US Air Force, Department of Homeland Security, the national centre for missing children — and since 2017, German police forces.

The two core products

Three federal states — and the federal government watches on

Germany is no longer a testing ground for Palantir — it is an established market. Since 2017, Hesse has been the first federal state to use the system. The rollout happened quietly, without broad parliamentary debate, on the basis of a framework agreement concluded by the Bavarian State Criminal Investigation Office (LKA) that allows all federal states and the federal government to procure the software without conducting their own tender.

What the software can do in Germany

Palantir's Gotham gives German law enforcement capabilities that were previously technically impossible — and that were kept separate by law for good reason:

Karlsruhe vs. Palantir: what the ruling means

On 16 February 2023, the Federal Constitutional CourtBVerfGGermany's highest court for constitutional matters, based in Karlsruhe. Its rulings are binding on all other courts, authorities and governments. delivered a landmark judgment (ref. 1 BvR 1547/19 and 1 BvR 2634/20) that fundamentally changed the Palantir debate in Germany. The trigger was constitutional complaints filed by the Society for Civil RightsGFFA German civil rights organisation that brings strategic litigation to enforce fundamental rights — similar to the American ACLU. (GFF) against the legal bases for HessenDATA and a Hamburg equivalent.

The ruling made clear: predictive policingPredictive PolicingAttempting to use AI and historical data to predict where and when crimes will occur. Highly controversial due to systematic discrimination. — analysing data before a danger exists — is compatible with the Basic Law only under strict conditions. It requires precise legal foundations, proportionality and transparency. What it does not require: ceasing the use of Palantir altogether.

Bavaria ignores the requirements — new complaint in 2025

The truly explosive finding: Bavaria introduced VeRA for at least one year without an adequate legal basis. A legal framework was only created under pressure from data protection commissioners — one that, according to the GFF, still does not meet the requirements of the Karlsruhe ruling.

On 23 July 2025, the GFF, supported by the Chaos Computer ClubCCCEurope's largest hacker association. Active since 1981, advises governments and courts on IT security and data protection. CCC statements are regarded as highly technically authoritative., filed another constitutional complaint — this time against the Bavarian Police ActBayPAGThe Bavarian law governing what police may and may not do. Regarded as one of Germany's most far-reaching police laws — highly controversial after mass protests in 2018. (BayPAG, Art. 61a). A parallel GFF complaint against the NRW regulation is also pending.

Peter Thiel, Alex Karp and the power of data

No article about Palantir is complete without its founders — because their political profile is part of the privacy problem.

From ICE deportations to targeting in Gaza

To understand what Palantir is, one must look at what it is actually used for — not just what the company says about it.

What is really at stake

Risk 1: Data flowing to the US

The most hotly debated issue. Palantir's software runs on servers located in Germany — the Bavarian LKA stresses that VeRA is not connected to the internet. Nevertheless, the problem remains: the company itself is American, subject to US law (CLOUD ActCLOUD ActA US law from 2018 that allows US authorities to request data from US companies — even when the data is stored on servers abroad. Potentially affects all Palantir data., FISAFISAForeign Intelligence Surveillance Act — US law granting intelligence agencies extensive surveillance powers. Under FISA Section 702, non-US citizens can be surveilled without a judicial warrant.), and has close ties to the CIA. Whether and how US authorities could, in an extreme case, demand access to data held within Palantir's infrastructure remains legally unresolved.

Data protection experts point to a further aspect: even if no data is directly transferred, the use of Palantir provides the company with valuable knowledge about the working methods and vulnerabilities of German investigative agencies — a strategic informational gain for a company with direct connections to US intelligence services.

Risk 2: Innocent citizens in data profiles

The Federal Constitutional Court has established it, the DSK has confirmed it: Palantir systematically captures people who have done nothing wrong. Anyone who appears as a witness in a case, who reports an offence as a victim, who calls the police emergency number, who happens to park a vehicle at the wrong time and place — all these people can end up in Palantir's data structure and become part of analyses they gave no cause for.

Risk 3: Discriminatory algorithms

Predictive policing — predicting crime before it happens — sounds like science fiction, but it is Palantir's stated goal. Studies of equivalent AI systems in law enforcement worldwide have consistently found that the algorithms tend to flag already marginalised population groups as risk individuals disproportionately. Not because they are more criminal, but because historical police data contains corresponding patterns.

Risk 4: Political abuse potential

Perhaps the most troubling long-term risk: what happens when Palantir operates under a different government? VeRA runs in Bavaria. Hypothetically: an AfD-led state government would have technical access to the same infrastructure. In the United States, Palantir already demonstrates under Trump what the technology is capable of: mass deportations, flagging students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests.