ABP, the Netherlands' largest pension fund, has sold off its €825 million stake in Palantir. The decision comes down to human rights concerns. Palantir's AI software combines massive datasets like communications, DNA, financial records, and surveillance footage for intelligence agencies worldwide. Amnesty International has repeatedly warned that Palantir's tools violate human rights, something critics argue is leading to the creation of a surveillance state, pointing to ICE using the software to track and deport people, and the Israeli army using it in attacks on Palestinians.
ABP manages pensions for nearly 3 million Dutch citizens, including all government employees and the national police force. Those same police use Palantir's Gotham platform under a multi-year contract. The pension fund decided Palantir is too ethically compromised to invest in, but the cops who depend on that pension still pay Palantir for its software. Dutch MPs in the Tweede Kamer have started asking the Justice Minister about this disconnect.
ABP has form on this. Last year the fund dropped investments in Booking and Airbnb because they listed accommodations in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories. A spokesperson told the Financieele Dagblad that ABP weighs risks, costs, and sustainability when making decisions. The Ministry of Justice and Security defended the police contract as essential for solving complex crimes. How essential remains unclear. A government pension fund refusing to hold shares in a company the government actively contracts with raises real questions about coherence in state policy.