Westpac ends contract with Palantir after community campaign

Two months after Coles announced it would cut ties with surveillance company Palantir, after a powerful community campaign, Westpac has announced it will not renew its contract with the company.

More than 40 organisations have joined the Dump Palantir Coalition (DPC) to pressure organisations to end contracts with the technology company over its role in supplying Israel’s genocide in Gaza and United States President Donald Trump’s deportation regime.

Palantir, founded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, signed a strategic partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Defence in January 2024, to supply technology and surveillance to support its genocide in Gaza and occupation of the West Bank. 

United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese named Palantir among the companies profiting from an “economy of genocide”. 

Palantir supplied a US$30 million system to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) identification, tracking and deportation of migrants. 

DPC spokesperson Mustafa Saabi said a “global movement” is determined to drive Palantir out of businesses, governments and institutions. “When a protester told Palantir CEO Alex Karp that his company’s technology kills Palestinians, he replied: ‘Mostly terrorists. That’s true.’

“The UN has found that nearly 70% of the deaths it verified in Gaza were women and children … That’s the company Westpac was doing business with.

“This isn’t a public relations problem Palantir can fix with better messaging.” 

On the day Westpac's decision was reported, Palantir shares fell by 7.3%, temporarily wiping about US$32 billion from its market value.

Westpac’s claim that its decision to end the contract with Palantir came down to “technology simplification” ignores the powerful public pressure campaign, campaigners said. 

“Westpac didn’t wake up with a conscience,” Justice for Palestine Magan-djin spokesperson Remah Naji said. “We made its relationship with Palantir a liability.

“"GetUp and SIX mobilised thousands of consumers and shareholders. Grassroots Palestine groups organised across the country. Ordinary people stood up, and we won.

"First Coles. Now Westpac. Every company doing business with Palantir should be asking itself one question: are we next?"

DPC spokesperson Subhi Awad said public money is still flowing to Palantir through the Future Fund, which holds $114.6 million in Palantir shares, and government agencies continue to purchase Palantir technology. 

“We’re coming for those relationships too,” Awad said. “Our message is simple: do business with Palantir and you risk losing customers and wrecking your reputation.

“We organised. We made Westpac dump them. And we're not finished.”

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