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The World Food Programme is standing by its partnership with Palantir, telling staff that the new deal with the controversial military contractor will save the organisation millions of dollars. But some WFPers have questions.
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Today: WFP staff question Palantir renewal, the fundraising strategy behind ration cuts, and the pope’s moral challenge on data extraction.
On the radar |
WFP is defending its partnership with Palantir, the data analytics firm and military contractor. In a message shared with staff on 30 August, the agency acknowledged that it renewed its “partnership agreement” for five years in July, following ”extensive internal reviews covering operational value, data governance, privacy, and security”.
“WFP management acknowledges concerns that have been raised regarding work with Palantir,” the internal message states. “These have been carefully considered through a cross-divisional committee, including ensuring safeguards to protect beneficiary data.”
WFP has come under fire for its secretive relationship with Palantir, often seen as an AI arms dealer that espouses a techno-fascist, US-dominated worldview. While governments and the public in several countries are questioning or breaking ties with Palantir, mostly over data sovereignty fears, WFP has largely refused to discuss or even acknowledge basic details about its partnership.
Internally, some staff have described a culture of silence when it comes to Palantir. The 30 August message was a rare example of WFP management engaging with the unease about Palantir, said a staff member who shared the note with us.
That said, the message was seen as more of a shut door than an open discussion. Senior WFP management was also questioned about the Palantir renewal during a 3 September all-staff meeting.
The vibe from management, the staff member said, is ”that this is the way it is. This is our partnership and we don’t have any intentions to let it go. So you have to accept this fact and stop asking questions”.
- Quick recap: WFP trumpeted its Palantir partnership in 2019, but quickly clammed up as criticism grew. Chatter in and out of WFP for several weeks has been that the food agency would renew its contract. PassBlue and France24 reported in early August that the contract was on the verge of being finalised, despite “key privacy concerns” from an internal audit. WFP is the backbone of the international humanitarian sector’s logistics operations and is building its growth strategy around harnessing data and pioneering new tech. A May cyber-attack exposed data belonging to a vast majority of Gaza’s remaining population. WFP restarted data collection in Gaza in July, but has ignored or sidestepped many questions about the breach from media, aid partners, and donors. Israel’s military has used data and AI-enabled analytics to target and kill in Gaza.
A few more tidbits from WFP’s internal message to staff:
- Cost savings: The all-seeing data integration platform created with Palantir, known as DOTS, has led to $50 million in savings, WFP says. Aid groups (especially WFP) often cite efficiency and savings as a reason for tech experimentation – a trend that’s accelerating amid today’s aid cuts. WFP did not show the math behind the figure.
- How WFP describes Palantir’s value: DOTS helps WFP “aggregate large volumes of disparate data across supply chain, logistics, and planning into one analytical view, where patterns and trends can be identified,” the internal staff message states. It lists five examples of how decision-making is sped up: designing food baskets, procurement, planning movement ahead of rainy seasons, reducing delays and costs, and tracking commodity disruptions en route.
- What WFP says about dependency on Palantir: Analysts say creating user dependency is built into Palantir’s business model, and that WFP is veering in this direction. WFP’s message to staff said the agency is avoiding so-called “vendor lock-in” by working with “nearly all leading software providers”. We’ve asked WFP which software partners help prevent reliance on Palantir, and what WFP has done to explore alternatives.
- What’s missing: The internal staff message highlights cost savings and data security, insisting that beneficiary data is protected and does not “connect to any Palantir technology”. It does not address core moral critiques about the company itself, and why a humanitarian agency is partnering with a military contractor that has supplied tech used by the Israeli military in Gaza or by ICE to target migrants in the United States, or that is accused of aiding and abetting a genocide.
- What WFP says: We’ve asked WFP to discuss these issues, and for more info about the contract renewal and partnership. The agency has mostly ignored repeated questions about Palantir and the May cyber-attack.
Cuts |
Fundraising by pipeline cuts: WFP seems more eager to talk about ration cuts than data breaches or Palantir. The agency said funding shortfalls will force it to halve the number of people receiving food assistance in the West Bank.
It’s a familiar message. For years, the agency has highlighted ration cuts across various emergencies, and it has often pointed a finger back at donors in press releases. Analysts say the strategy has often soured relations with key donors, calling it “last-minute fundraising drives based on threats of breaks in the food distribution pipeline”.
Today’s funding pressures are massive, but the practice pre-dates the sector’s donor retreat and the resulting financial crisis. Meanwhile, some who have relied on aid question why food rations seem to be the first thing cut when money is scarce.
Palantíri |
Here are a few more additions to the “everyone is talking about Palantir, except for humanitarians” file:
Protest: Code Pink, the feminist anti-war group, staged a protest at the offices of World Food Program USA last month. The US non-profit raises funds for the UN agency.
Manchester: The all-caps tech magazine, WIRED, reports on the English county that’s saying no to Palantir.
“Why everybody hates Palantir”: This Economist article has a more measured view than its click-y headline suggests. It notes that Palantir weakens its position “by overstating what the software has achieved”. But it also largely lines up behind the firm, questioning whether other companies can do what Palantir does (this Computer Weekly article reckons they can indeed).
Palantir v The Pope: WFP hosted Pope Leo XIV at the agency’s Rome headquarters back in June. A few days later, Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel called the pope “a Chinese communist agent” (he meant it as an insult) for calling for AI regulation. Thiel previously gave lectures on “the antichrist” in Rome, reportedly unnerving Vatican officials.
LOTR: The pope’s AI encyclical contains a Lord of the Rings reference (the Palantir company name is borrowed from the Tolkien novel, which is always a reassuring sign). The papal encyclical, BTW, also calls data extraction a new form of colonialism: “Those who control the health data of entire peoples – often collected under the pretext of aid, research, or innovation – possess a structural leverage over the future,” he warned.
“This looks absolutely rubbish”: London Review of Books has a long read on Palantir and the UK’s National Health Service.
“It’s just a waste of time”: The article’s co-authors have a slightly shorter summary on their Substack.
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