Conservative-led federal states want to introduce technology from a Trump supporter across Germany. The future CSU Federal Ministry of the Interior could help.
When the German Federal Council recently voted in favour of a joint data analysis platform for the federal and state police forces, many media interpreted this as a green light for the widespread use of Palantir’s US software. However, research published on Monday by Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) refutes this interpretation. This is because the name Palantir is not mentioned in the Federal Council resolution on the prompt provision of a joint ‘automated data analysis platform’ for the police.
The minutes of the Bundesrat meeting viewed by BR also show that Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania expressly spoke out in favour of a European alternative that ‘excludes the use of products from the market-dominating US provider Palantir’. The initiative received support from Bremen, which currently chairs the Conference of Interior Ministers, as well as from Lower Saxony, Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia. However, the motion did not achieve the necessary majority of votes in the Bundesrat.
The software in question from Palantir is a digital octopus that searches through data available to the authorities and combines it into predictions. However, reservations about the Denver-based US company are also related to its links to the current US government. Peter Thiel, co-founder, main shareholder and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Palantir, is a prominent supporter and donor of US President Donald Trump and his Vice President JD Vance. Palantir is also known as a US secret service supplier.
The current Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser (Social Democrats), is also said to have a reserved attitude towards Palantir, reports BR. In 2023, she stopped a project that would have enabled the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Federal Police and the Customs Criminal Police Office to use the Palantir software. However, the transfer of the ministry’s leadership to the Christian Social Union (CSU) agreed in the recent coalition negotiations could open up new prospects for the US company throughout Germany.
In contrast to the sceptical federal states, the police under the CDU/CSU-led state governments in Bavaria, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia are already using the Palantir software. According to BR research, Berlin and Baden-Württemberg are also considering a possible co-operation with the controversial US company.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: Palantir also wants to sell to health authorities (Rathfelder, Palantir 2022, CC BY-SA 4.0).
