USA Today Co. Employees Want End To New Palantir Partnership

More than 800 unionized USA Today Co. employees are demanding the company immediately end its newly announced partnership with data analytics firm Palantir, citing significant ethical concerns and an inherent conflict of interest. 

In a joint statement released Monday by 31 NewsGuild-CWA-represented newsrooms, the workers—most of them journalists—said the deal threatens reader trust, raises serious questions about data security, and clashes with journalistic principles. 

“While USA Today Co. CEO Mike Reed championed this partnership as a way to drive revenue, we believe it threatens to undermine trust in our news outlets and raises serious questions about the data security of our readers,” the statement reads. 

“We have significant ethical issues with Palantir, whose artificial intelligence software has been used to advance widespread surveillance and power immigration crackdowns.” 

Peter Thiel

The employees also argued that partnering with a company frequently covered in the news creates a conflict of interest and undermines journalists who have faced assault or false arrests while reporting on immigration enforcement. They pointed to Palantir cofounder Peter Thiel’s past comments on freedom and democracy, as well as the company’s ties to human rights concerns and surveillance work. 

USA Today Co. (formerly Gannett), the largest U.S. newspaper chain with more than 200 local papers, announced the partnership during its second-quarter earnings call on Aug. 6. Reed described it as a way to better collect, connect, and activate audience data for faster monetization amid declining search traffic. The company said it would retain ownership of its data and that editorial decisions would remain independent. 

Workers said they received minimal details about the agreement and learned of it only about 20 minutes before the earnings call. USA Today Co. responded that the deal is a business decision focused on better serving audiences and that data remains protected under existing privacy commitments. The statement concludes by calling on the company to dissolve the partnership at once.