American Oversight Sues for Records on Trump Admin Use of Palantir Tools Amid Growing Privacy, Data Collection Concerns

Tuesday, American Oversight filed a suit against the Trump administration seeking records that would shed light on how multiple federal agencies are accessing, sharing, and using Americans’ sensitive personal data through systems built by Palantir. At its core, the lawsuit seeks answers to basic questions the public should already have: how the government is using vast amounts of personal data and what safeguards — if any — are in place to prevent it from being misused or compromised.

Despite requests for basic information, the government has failed to disclose whether and how these systems are being used to analyze Americans’ sensitive personal data, raising significant privacy concerns.

The lawsuit targets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, and Social Security Administration, all of which have failed to produce records in response to Freedom of Information Act requests seeking information about their use of Palantir tools and access to sensitive data.

“Americans deserve to know how their most sensitive personal data is being collected and used by their own government. Systems like this raise serious privacy concerns because they allow the compilation and analysis of vast amounts of information, with little public transparency. That kind of centralized government data power, without information about how the data is being used and whether it is being properly protected, is a red flag,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “When the government builds vast systems like this in secret, the public has no way of knowing how that power is being used or who it is being used against. That’s especially alarming coming from an administration that has repeatedly shared Americans’ data in violation of the law and shown time and again it is willing to use every tool at its disposal to target its perceived enemies for retribution.”

These concerns are heightened by the government’s increasing use of Palantir tools in enforcement efforts, including immigration-related actions and other areas where personal data can have significant real-world consequences. 

Our requests seek records including communications among senior government officials and Palantir, contracts and agreements with Palantir, and policies and guidance related to how sensitive personal data is shared with Palantir. The requests also seek records of materials Palantir has sent the government regarding its access to or use of sensitive information.

The lawsuit comes as the federal government has moved to expand data sharing across agencies following a March 2025 executive order, while simultaneously increasing its reliance on private contractors like Palantir to build and maintain data analysis systems. Public reporting and advocacy groups have raised concerns that these developments could enable the government to aggregate and analyze sensitive personal data at an unprecedented scale. President Trump has also publicly promoted Palantir in recent weeks as the company’s stock has struggled, further underscoring the company’s growing prominence in federal data infrastructure.