Condemnation of Palantir’s participation at the EPFL Forum

CLADS, alongside Unipoly, Polyquity, Zero Emission Group, PSC (palestinian student association), les Irrotationnel·le·s, CLIC, Artiphys, ELP (étudiantexs lausannoisexs pacifistes) and Satellite, condemn in the strongest possible terms the EPFL Forum for inviting Palantir and other companies involved in mass surveillance, the deportation of vulnerable populations, and the development and production of military equipment to its 2026 edition

The EPFL Forum, the student association responsible for inviting companies considered relevant for recruiting EPFL graduates, has repeatedly caused controversy regarding its choices [1]. This year, the presence of companies such as Safran, Vitol, Harmattan, and Glencore once again raises very serious questions. With the invitation of Palantir, an extremely disturbing line has been crossed. Palantir is infamous for its openly supremacist charter [2] and its disregard for human rights. It promotes the use of technology for mass surveillance, deportation, and killing.

More specifically, Palantir’s tools are being used by the Israeli military in its operations in Gaza. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, has identified Palantir as one of the companies “profiting from genocide” and potentially complicit in violations of international law [3]. Amnesty International UK also documents the Israeli military’s use of these technologies in Gaza [4].

In the United States, the ACLU documents ICE’s use of Palantir systems (ELITE, ImmigrationOS) to monitor, target, and deport foreign nationals, in violation of the U.S. Constitution [5]. The Swiss National Bank holds approximately 1.1 billion francs worth of Palantir shares, a stake criticized by NGOs for being incompatible with the SNB’s own human rights guidelines [6].

In Switzerland, an internal report by the Swiss Armed Forces concluded that the use of Palantir software poses risks to the country’s digital sovereignty due to a potential transfer of data to the CIA and the NSA. The Federal Office for Armaments and the Swiss Armed Forces have discontinued its services, citing concerns related to fundamental rights and technological dependence [7]. A parliamentary initiative filed in 2026 calls for a general ban on Palantir and similar systems in Switzerland [8]. Finally, Palantir attempted to silence a Swiss investigative magazine but was unsuccessful in court, confirming the validity of the revelations concerning the company [9].

Peter Thiel, the co-founder of Palantir, wrote in 2009: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible” [10]. He describes “capitalist democracy” as an oxymoron and advocates a model of governance in which the state is run like a business, with a “monarch-CEO” [11]. Philosophers such as Mark Coeckelbergh describe this doctrine as “technofascism” [12]. The manifesto published by Palantir in 2026, which labels certain cultures as “dysfunctional and regressive” and calls for combating pluralism, confirms this direction [13].

For all these reasons, Palantir’s presence at the EPFL Forum 2026 stands in direct opposition to the school’s ethical values [14]. By facilitating this company’s access to EPFL’s talent pool, the Forum directly contributes to the strengthening of mass surveillance projects and human rights violations. EPFL, a public institution funded by the Swiss Confederation, has a special responsibility: not to serve as a recruitment platform for actors rejected by the Swiss authorities themselves.

Through this press release, CLADS, along with the organizations Unipoly, Polyquity, Zero Emission Group, PSC (palestinian student association), les Irrotationnel·le·s, CLIC, Artiphys, ELP (étudiantexs lausannoisexs pacifistes) and Satellite, call on EPFL to immediately cancel the Palantir workshops and its participation in the forum—or risk having its reputation severely damaged by an indecent display of duplicity. The mere fact that its name is associated with an event it hosts and promotes implicates it beyond any doubt.

Consequently, we deplore EPFL’s inaction in the face of numerous calls to cancel Palantir’s participation [15]. We call on the administration to take responsibility for the guests it agrees to host at the forum bearing its name, particularly regarding the alignment of their activities with the values it espouses.

EPFL’s desire to grant independence to the EPFL Forum’s student committee cannot excuse the moral failing represented by this invitation, especially since the administration has in the past demonstrated a more pronounced tendency to intervene in order to ban events organized by student associations [16].

Références :

[1] https://www.24heures.ch/lausanne-la-presence-de-philip-morris-au-forum-epfl-fait-reagir-437527128064

[2] https://x.com/PalantirTech/status/2045574398573453312

[3] ONU — Rapport de Francesca Albanese, Rapporteuse spéciale sur les territoires palestiniens occupés, A/HRC/59/23, juillet 2025 :
https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc5923-economy-occupation-economy-genocide-report-special-rapporteur

[4] Amnesty International UK — No Palantir in our NHS :
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/issues/international-crisis/no-palantir-in-our-nhs/

[5] ACLU — All the Ways Palantir is Assisting Trump’s Abusive Removal Campaign :
https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/palantir-deportation-roundup

[6] Business & Human Rights Resource Centre — Swiss National Bank responds regarding its investments in Palantir :
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/swiss-national-bank-responds-regarding-its-investments-in-palantir/

[7] Republik / WAV — How tenaciously Palantir courted Switzerland, février 2026 :
https://www.republik.ch/2026/02/18/how-tenaciously-palantir-courted-switzerland

[8] Parlement suisse — Initiative parlementaire 25.499 « Kein Einsatz von Palantir und ähnlichen Systemen in der Schweiz » :
http://ws-old.parlament.ch/affairs/20250499

[9] Swissinfo — Palantir loses legal challenge against Swiss investigative magazine :
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-politics/palantir-loses-legal-challenge-against-swiss-investigative-magazine/91582700

[10] The Guardian — Donald Trump, Peter Thiel and the death of democracy, 21 juillet 2016 :
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/21/donald-trump-peter-thiel-death-democracy

[11] El Mostrador — Experto en ultraderecha y Peter Thiel, mai 2026 :
https://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/pais/2026/05/06/experto-en-ultraderecha-y-peter-thiel-en-su-ideologia-libertad-y-democracia-no-son-compatibles/

[12] ARA — Palantir: technology, power and sovereignty, 2026 :
https://en.ara.cat/opinion/technology-power-and-sovereignty_129_5720458.html

[13] Alternatives Économiques — Peter Thiel, le technofasciste au cœur du trumpisme, 2026 :
https://www.alternatives-economiques.fr/peter-thiel-le-technofasciste-au-coeur-du-trumpisme_29-07-2026

[14] https://www.epfl.ch/about/overview/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Charte-ethique-de-lEFPL.pdf

[15] https://lecourrier.ch/2026/09/22/epfl-palantir-sinvite-au-recrutement/

[16] Pour la mise en œuvre des recommandations aux universités de GinaRomero à l’EPFL, ch. 4 à 10 – Association Générale des Étudiant·e·s de l’EPFL (AGEPoly), 14 avril 2026. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qSYncsx5WApM6aZtDqH3qyUQ6K9Gxp5k/view