Palantir just hired a former Democratic Senator as an adviser as the company faces the possibility of increased scrutiny when the Democratic Party takes control of the House and Senate next year.

Jon Tester, the former Democratic Senator from Montana, told NPR that his agreement with the controversy-ridden tech company is “advisory in nature” and “not lobbying.” He will be focusing on the government services side of the business, he said.

Palantir has garnered serious controversy under the Trump administration, with critics voicing concerns that the company is powering mass surveillance, though Palantir denies the claims. The company reported nearly $2 billion in revenue from the U.S. government in 2025, with much of that business coming from the Department of Defense. Palantir’s AI-powered targeting system Maven is deployed across key Pentagon teams. According to a Bloomberg investigation, overreliance on Maven by members of U.S. Central Command was one of several failures that contributed to a U.S. military strike on an Iranian elementary school in February that killed more than 150 people, including at least 123 children. In March, more than 120 House Democrats wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, demanding information on the role Palantir’s Maven played in the strike.

But the company has perhaps received the most scrutiny from Democrats over its deals with the Department of Homeland Security, and specifically the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

The tech giant built a surveillance platform called ImmigrationOS to aid the mass deportation efforts of ICE. Amnesty International has previously warned that Palantir’s technology could be used to unfairly target pro-Palestinian non-citizens in the United States.

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