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Investing.com -- Shares of Palantir Technologies Inc . (NYSE:NASDAQ:PLTR) rose 0.8% pre-open following a New York Times (NYSE:NYT) report detailing the company’s increasing involvement with the Trump administration’s data-sharing initiatives. The report revealed that Palantir has been selected to play a central role in President Trump’s executive order to enhance inter-agency data sharing, a move that could potentially consolidate the President’s surveillance capabilities.
Since the Trump administration took office, Palantir has secured over $113 million in federal spending, not including a recent $795 million Department of Defense contract. The company’s Foundry product, which specializes in organizing and analyzing data, is now being utilized by at least four federal agencies. This widespread adoption could facilitate the merging of data from various government entities, something the current administration has been actively pursuing.
The use of Palantir’s technology has raised concerns regarding privacy and the potential for misuse of personal information. Critics and privacy advocates worry that the aggregated data could be used to target immigrants or political adversaries. Despite these concerns, Palantir has emphasized in its blog that it acts strictly as a data processor under the direction of its clients, who control the data and the parameters of its use.
The White House has not commented specifically on Palantir’s involvement but referred to the executive order’s intention to "eliminate information silos and streamline data collection across all agencies to increase government efficiency and save hard-earned taxpayer dollars."
While Palantir has declined to comment on the specifics of its work with the Trump administration, the recent expansion of its government contracts has evidently bolstered investor confidence, as reflected in the modest uptick of its stock. However, the company’s association with the administration’s controversial data strategies continues to be a point of debate among privacy experts and the public.