Mayor blocks Palantir deal from London police

Controversial company

Mayor blocks Palantir deal from London police

After a blockade by London’s city government, the British capital’s police force has to overturn a million-dollar deal with Palantir. There are also ethical concerns.

A £50 million deal between US technology company Palantir and London’s Metropolitan Police has fallen through after a veto by London Mayor Sadiq Khan. That’s the equivalent of more than 57 million euros.

The Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime (MOPAC) said Palantir was the only provider the Met Police seriously considered, according to British media. The police did not submit a procurement strategy for approval, which was a “clear and serious breach” of procedural rules.

Both the police and Palantir criticized the decision. The Met Police must modernize and use the best possible technology, a Met Police spokesman said, according to the BBC.

According to a spokesman, Mayor Sadiq Khan is of the opinion that the people of London only want public money for companies “that share the city’s values”, but current procurement law does not allow this, according to the BBC. Accordingly, ethical concerns must not have any influence on the rejection of a deal. Khan wants to “raise this with the government in due course.”

Palantir specializes in analyzing large amounts of data and, among other things, supplies software that is used to analyze intelligence and military information. The police authorities in Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg have chosen the Palantir analysis tool “Gotham”.

In view of the tensions in the transatlantic relationship, there is growing concern among IT experts that political pressure could one day also be exerted through blocked access to data, data leakage or a remote shutdown of US software.