- WIADOMOŚCI
Germany turns away from Palantir
Germany’s domestic intelligence service has selected France’s ChapsVision over Palantir for big-data analysis tools. As OpexNews notes, this is not only a software decision. It is a political signal about digital sovereignty, mistrust towards U.S. providers and Europe’s attempt to regain control over sensitive data.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is moving towards ArgonOS, ChapsVision’s platform for analysing large volumes of data from internal databases, open sources and the darknet. The system is based on artificial intelligence and is to operate in a sovereign cloud, isolated from external access. For an intelligence service, this matters more than marketing claims. The question is not only which tool is more efficient, but who controls the data.
This decision must be read in the context of German memory and German caution. Snowden, the NSA and the surveillance of Angela Merkel’s phone did not disappear from Berlin’s strategic culture. German officials have increasingly argued that relying on American private companies for sensitive state infrastructure creates a geopolitical vulnerability. This is why the choice of a European provider is not accidental.
Palantir remains a powerful company, but in Europe its problem is increasingly political. Its links with the American security ecosystem, its reputation, and concerns over automated data analysis have created resistance in Germany. The Constitutional Court had already challenged parts of automated police data exploitation in Hesse, and further cases remain sensitive. In this context, Palantir is no longer judged only as a technology provider, but as a sovereignty risk.
For France, this is a clear success. ChapsVision has been building its position quickly, including through acquisitions such as Deveryware, Systran and Sinequa. It had already convinced the French General Directorate for Internal Security to move away from Palantir towards a sovereign solution. Now Berlin is validating the same direction at federal level.
The conclusion is quite simple and European digital sovereignty is no longer only a slogan. It is entering procurement decisions, intelligence systems and defence planning. Germany’s choice shows that European alternatives to American technology platforms can win when security, data control and political trust become as important as technical performance. On the other hand, Ukraine has chosen Palantir over any European provider.
