{"id":42206,"date":"2025-06-26T23:27:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T06:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=42206"},"modified":"2025-06-26T23:27:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T06:27:54","slug":"42206","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/06\/26\/42206\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-ICE protesters crash Palantir\u2019s Bay Area office"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0Stephen Council<\/a>,Tech Reporter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

June 26, 2025 (SFGate.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Protesters rallied against the tech company Palantir on June 26, 2025 in Palo Alto, Calif.Stephen Council\/SFGATE<\/em><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than a hundred protesters gathered at Palantir<\/a>\u2019s Palo Alto offices on Thursday afternoon, with signs, speeches and chants that painted the data mining company as a force for evil. Attendees decried Palantir\u2019s work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a> and with the Israeli government<\/a>, equating the $337 billion company to \u201cBig Brother\u201d and \u201cthe surveillance state.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rally featured similar rhetoric to other anti-ICE and anti-oligarchy protests that have popped up around the Bay Area since the start of President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s second term, but was targeted at a narrower enemy. The Denver-headquartered company is working<\/a> with ICE to speed its controversial deportation efforts, and, per the New York Times<\/a>, creating a \u201cmaster list of personal information on Americans\u201d that critics argue could be used for mass surveillance. Speakers at the protest said that, after ICE\u2019s raids in Los Angeles, Palantir could help the Trump administration target dissenting Americans next \u2014 boos rained in response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPalantir is the most dangerous company that you might never have heard of,\u201d Katie Na, an organizer with Planet Over Profit, one of the protest\u2019s planners, told SFGATE before the event. She pointed to Palantir\u2019s co-founder, the Trump ally and conservative financier Peter Thiel, and called the company a \u201cweapon\u201d for his vision, she said, of \u201cauthoritarianism, mass surveillance, deportation and genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

At first, attendees met outside the Palantir office on the corner of Alma Street and Hamilton Avenue. They hefted a banner reading, \u201cPalantir Powers ICE\u201d \u2014 which people from inside the office ran out to tear away \u2014 and blocked off Alma Street with lines of protesters. Signs included phrases like \u201cPalantir Powers ICE & Automates Cruelty,\u201d and \u201cPredatory Tech.\u201d During speeches, a pro-Palestine activist tied Palantir\u2019s surveillance work to Israel\u2019s destructive strikes in Gaza, a Google worker spoke about workers\u2019 opposition to tech\u2019s military use and an activist from the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment accused Palantir of \u201cenabling the ICE raids that are separating our families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came a twist. After the speeches, Na directed the crowd to march, and led them around the corner to another building labeled with Palantir\u2019s logo. Inside, she said, the company was running a recruiting event; she later said she saw people paper up the front door as the crowd approached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re doing the worst possible thing with your talents,\u201d Na said into a megaphone, directing her message to potential recruits, as other protesters pounded on the windows and shouted for the event to be shut down. \u201cDon\u2019t stain your hands with blood while you fill your pockets with money, it\u2019s not worth it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SFGATE wasn\u2019t able to immediately verify what was happening inside the building. Palantir did not respond to a request for comment as of publication. Six people were arrested at a protest against Palantir at the company\u2019s New York office on Thursday, the Guardian reported, but there were no arrests in Palo Alto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Na wrapped up the protest by declaring it a \u201cf\u2013king victory\u201d and claiming that the event inside had been shut down due to the noise and attention. She, as well as fellow Planet Over Profit organizer Alice Hu, emphasized their hopes to SFGATE that damaging Palantir\u2019s reputation might damage its stock price, in the mold of this spring\u2019s \u201cTesla Takedown<\/a>\u201d protests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Attendees on Thursday had varying degrees of familiarity with Palantir, which has long remained under the radar thanks to its non-consumer-facing business model. The company, which is named for the magical \u201cseeing stones\u201d in \u201cThe Lord of the Rings,\u201d sells software meant to help companies and governments deal with massive amounts of data. It has nearly doubled in value this year on investor excitement over its artificial intelligence tech and its government contracts \u2014 as of Thursday, it was worth more than either Coca-Cola or Samsung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex Karp, the company\u2019s CEO, has been unabashed about his views that Silicon Valley should take a larger role in Washington, and in particular, in making products for military use. Protests against his company\u2019s work with ICE are nothing new \u2014 2018<\/a> saw an action at this same office, and in 2019<\/a>, tech activists blasted Palantir on its Github page<\/a>. But the company\u2019s recent work has brought new critics into the fold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda Maki, who heard about the protest through a \u201cRaging Grannies\u201d email group, told SFGATE she\u2019d attended a series of the anti-Tesla protests in the Bay Area this year, and lambasted the recent actions by ICE agents. She held a sign reading, \u201cICE = BOUNTY HUNTERS,\u201d and blamed Palantir for helping the agency\u2019s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m for law and order,\u201d Maki said, referencing instances in which the masked agents seem to be operating extrajudicially, including the beating<\/a> of a California gardener who was father to three Marines. She called the agents \u201carmed thugs\u201d and \u201clawless vigilantes, but on our dime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A protester at the rally against Palantir on June 26, 2025 in Palo Alto, Calif., holds up a handmade sign.Stephen Council\/SFGATE<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rocky Chau, another attendee, said he hadn\u2019t known much about Palantir until about a month ago, but quickly recognized it as part of a \u201ccommon enemy\u201d of multibillion dollar corporations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with Palestinians in Gaza, Chau said he was protesting on behalf of vulnerable, marginalized groups harmed domestically by the Trump administration. He added, \u201cWho knows who will be targeted next?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work at a Bay Area tech company and want to talk? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at stephen.council@sfgate.com or on Signal at 628-204-5452.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

June 26, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Stephen Council<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TECH REPORTER<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Council is the tech reporter at SFGATE. He has covered technology and business for The Information, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC and CalMatters, where his reporting won a San Francisco Press Club award.Signal: 628-204-5452
<\/strong>Email: stephen.council@sfgate.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Stephen Council,Tech Reporter June 26, 2025 (SFGate.com) Protesters rallied against the tech company Palantir on June 26, 2025 in Palo Alto, Calif.Stephen Council\/SFGATE More than a hundred protesters gathered at Palantir\u2019s Palo Alto offices on Thursday afternoon, with signs, speeches and chants that painted the data mining company as a force… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42206"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42206"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42210,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42206\/revisions\/42210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}