Palantir protests: Pressure grows on NHS to end links as Tom Watson launches defence of tech giant

Abstract

A wave of protests over US tech giant Palantir's involvement in the NHS have been held across England.Dozens of events took place on 1 October outside NHS offices and hospitals across England, culminating in a rally outside the firm's London headquarters. | Protests have been held across England over Palantir's involvement in the NHSProtesters demanded that the government end Palantir's health data contract to handle the NHS's federated data platform (FDP).Separately, a legal objection by 45 108 members of the public-citing General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) principles-has been submitted to NHS England calling for their health data to be protected from Palantir.Palantir won a contract to create the FDP for NHS England in 2023 to help streamline health service data.But it has proved controversial, partly because of the company's provision of services to US immigration enforcement and the Israeli military.1 Former deputy leader of the Labour Party Tom Watson-appointed UK senior vice president at Palantir Technologies last month-criticised the protesters, claiming that they were seeking to block software that improves patient care. 2 Writing on X Watson said: "While they protest, someone, somewhere will get an operation scheduled

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. BMJ, 2026 · DOI ↗