Republik Magazine and the WAV Research Collective

It is not unusual for independent journalists and publications to find themselves in David vs. Goliath situations, particularly when they strive to bring transparency to the doings of the military-industrial complex.

As a revealing example, the small but intrepid Swiss online magazine Republik and members of the Zurich-based WAV Research Collective currently find themselves in the legal crosshairs of tech behemoth Palantir, after daring to report on Palantir’s persistent—and ultimately unsuccessful—efforts to market its services and software to Swiss federal authorities. Palantir has taken Republik to court to demand a right of reply “to correct significant inaccuracies,” but without disclosing what it deems “inaccurate.”

What irritated Palantir was the thorough journalists’ use of 59 “document access requests” (filed with 41 federal agencies under the Swiss Freedom of Information Act) to ascertain whether Swiss government agencies or the Swiss Army are among Palantir’s customers. The documents reveal a steady, years-long campaign, through direct outreach and at international gatherings, to persuade the Swiss government to use Palantir’s software, which the company admits is “meant to be used as a deadly weapon.”

Although four federal offices—those focused on cybersecurity, IT, “buildings and logistics,” and finance—refused to honor Republik’s document access requests, Palantir’s persuasion campaign largely seems to have failed. As their principal objection, Swiss officials expressed concerns about the risk of losing data sovereignty (via “data leakage” to parties outside Switzerland) and, therefore, national sovereignty. The Swiss Army wrote,

“Palantir is a U.S.-based company, which means there is a possibility that sensitive data could be accessed by the U.S. government and intelligence services.”

The tidal wave of negative headlines about Palantir may have been another reason that Swiss authorities rebuffed Palantir’s overtures. The magazine quotes a Swiss Army insider as saying, “The political damage would be many times greater than the actual benefit.” Nor is the negative publicity in Europe likely to lessen; Palantir’s connections to the brutal actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the U.S. and its “strategic partnership” with Israel and alleged role in the Gaza genocide have not gone unnoticed.

Palantir’s heavy-handed harassment of the small online publication likewise seems to have backfired. As the Techdirt blog puts it,

“If you run a company whose entire value proposition is the ability to see patterns, predict outcomes, and connect dots that others miss, you’d think someone in the building might have flagged that suing a small independent magazine over unflattering-but-accurate reporting would only guarantee that millions more people read it.”

In addition to increasing Republik’s readership, Palantir’s lawsuit has helped generate a “gigantic” outpouring of donations and solidarity, according to Republik co-editor-in-chief Daniel Binswanger. We thank Republik and the WAV journalists whose methodical and honest reporting has helped shine a light not only on Palantir’s unsavory “kill chain” products but on the company’s dogged attempts to corral every last Western government into its control and surveillance infrastructure.

Fundamentally, Republik’s reporting underscores the critical fact that it is past time for every government official on the planet to face the challenge of data sovereignty. If governments cannot establish data and information system sovereignty, they will have no sovereignty.