New York City’s public hospital network, NYC Health + Hospitals, will not renew its contract with data analytics firm Palantir Technologies when the deal expires this October. The decision comes as the same company faces mounting questions in the United Kingdom over a major National Health Service contract.

Dr. Mitchell Katz, who leads the nation's largest municipal health system, told a city council hearing last week the $4 million agreement was always intended as a short-term tool for optimizing insurance revenue. He emphasized an 'absolute firewall' prevented patient data from being shared with U.S. immigration authorities. The system will now transition to internally built software, severing all data ties with Palantir.

In the UK, Palantir’s £330 million agreement to operate the NHS's data platform is under similar pressure. Health justice charity Medact warned in a March briefing that the software could enable 'data-driven state abuses of power,' citing concerns that supposedly anonymized patient information could be re-identified. Palantir has stated such use would be illegal and a breach of contract. Despite Prime Minister Keir Starmer's push for faster deployment, less than half of UK health authorities had adopted the system by last summer.

The company is simultaneously expanding its UK government work, recently securing a Financial Conduct Authority contract to analyze financial crime data—a move some MPs have urged the government to halt.

In New York, activist groups behind the 'Purge Palantir' campaign are claiming victory. 'We don’t think the same AI systems used for immigration enforcement or targeting airstrikes should be in our hospitals,' said Kenny Morris of the American Friends Service Committee, which obtained the hospital contract. UK campaigners now hope New York's move will bolster their call for the NHS to cancel its Palantir deal.

Source: The Guardian