Palantir's Data Deal With USA Today Sparks Newsroom Revolt
USA Today Co., the country's largest newspaper chain, is facing an internal rebellion after disclosing a partnership with AI and data-analytics firm Palantir to help monetize reader data. The deal was revealed during the company's second-quarter earnings call, catching more than 800 unionized journalists across 31 newsrooms off guard rather than being communicated to staff directly beforehand. Unions representing reporters at papers including the Indianapolis Star, the Arizona Republic and the Detroit Free Press issued a joint statement demanding the company immediately end the arrangement, arguing it creates an inherent conflict of interest and threatens reader trust. Their objections center heavily on Palantir's roughly $30 million contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, since immigration enforcement is a beat many of the same newsrooms cover regularly, including reporters who say they have faced assault or arrest while reporting on enforcement actions. Company leadership, including CEO Mike Reed, has defended the tie-up as a straightforward business decision meant to build a shared intelligence layer over audience data to speed up subscription, advertising and commerce revenue, while insisting existing privacy commitments and editorial independence remain intact. The dispute highlights a widening rift in the news industry between publishers eager to use AI-driven data tools to shore up struggling revenue and journalists wary of handing sensitive audience and source information to a company closely tied to government surveillance work.