The Secretive Tech Company That May Know Too Much

October 23, 2020

The U.S. Army uses Palantir’s technologies for logistics. The investment bank Credit Suisse uses it to guard against money laundering. The pharmaceutical company Merck, in Germany, uses it to expedite the development of new drugs. Ferrari Scuderia uses it to try to make its Formula 1 cars faster. In the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services is using Palantir’s software to analyze virus-related data. In our cover story, Michael Steinberger reports on Palantir, the secretive tech company that’s seen by some as a particularly malignant avatar of the Big Data revolution.

Typography by Nikita Iziev

Does Palantir See Too Much?

The tech giant helps governments and law enforcement decipher vast amounts of data — to mysterious and, some say, dangerous ends.

By Michael Steinberger

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Photo illustration by Joan Wong

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