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By Hugh Cameron
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A Republican candidate for Florida governor has threatened to bar the software giant Palantir from doing business with state and local governments over civil liberty concerns, after the company revealed that it had shifted its headquarters to the Sunshine State.
"Florida’s next government must protect the constitutional rights of every single citizen in our state, which is why if elected Florida Governor, I would ban Palantir from doing business with state and local government," James Fishback posted to X on Tuesday.
"As Governor, I will ban you from all government contracts. You are a threat to our civil liberties," he later wrote.
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Newsweek contacted Palantir and Fishback’s campaign via email for comment outside of regular working hours.
Why It Matters
While the company has no reported contracts with Florida’s state or local governments, Palantir has over the past few years established itself as a major federal contractor, providing its data-aggregation and -analytics services to the Department of Defense as well as numerous civilian agencies.
This cooperation has expanded significantly since the beginning of President Donald Trump's second term, and its domestic activities—in particular the support for immigration enforcement—have sparked criticism from some who believe this has contributed to expanded government surveillance of U.S. citizens.
Palantir has previously said its technologies are solely intended to support lawful and authorized activities, and emphasized that its platforms include safeguards to ensure oversight and compliance by both private-sector and government clients.
In a recent earnings call, CEO Alex Karp said Palantir was "supporting, in critical manner, some of the most interesting intricate, unusual, operations that the U.S. government has been involved in."
What To Know
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday, the $300 billion company listed a Florida location as its principal address, and later announced via X that it had shifted its headquarters to Miami, Florida. The company was previously based in Denver, Colorado, having moved from Palo Alto, California in 2020.
While the company did not outline what had prompted the move, this comes as a growing number of tech firms and other businesses have relocated to Florida, as well as after protests in Colorado over Palantir’s work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its support for the Israeli military.
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While some took Tuesday's announcement as evidence that the company had fled anti-business conditions in Colorado, Fishback and several others said the move raised concerns over the possibility of the company's surveillance-assisting technologies being used against Florida residents.
"There is no denying that Palantir has been an asset to the U.S. military as our service members bravely protect us overseas," he said in a statement. "But, digital weapons deployed on foreign battlefields should never be aimed at American citizens."
Fishback is an American entrepreneur who first drew political attention for suggesting a $5,000 "dividend" check funded with the savings secured by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and more recently for proposing a "sin tax" on OnlyFans creators in Florida. He announced his candidacy to replace the term-limited Ron DeSantis in November.
What People Are Saying
Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback posted to X: "History has shown that a surveillance state, no matter how 'noble' its intentions, will be weaponized against the very people it claims to protect. A surveillance state, whether run by government or outsourced to a private company, violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."
Colorado Governor Jared Polis reacted to Palantir’s announcement during a press conference on Tuesday, saying: "Obviously, what I would be looking to is, does it affect any jobs here in Colorado? It's not clear whether a headquarters move would or wouldn't affect that."
What Happens Next
According to a number of recent polls compiled by 270toWin, Fishback continues to trail the frontrunner, Representative Byron Donalds, whom the prediction market Kalshi gives a 78 percent chance of emerging as the Republican candidate. Primary elections are scheduled for mid-August, with the gubernatorial election taking place on November 3.
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