USA Today's Palantir Deal Sparks Newsroom Revolt Over AI and Trust

USA Today Co.'s agreement with data analytics firm Palantir to deploy artificial intelligence across its publishing operations has ignited a revolt among journalists at its more than 200 newspapers, with staffers at 31 unionized newsrooms formally demanding the contract be terminated.

The deal, announced during an August investor call, aims to consolidate fragmented reader data into a single system and use AI to personalize newsletters, target affiliate links, improve content discovery, and convert anonymous visitors into registered subscribers. CEO Mike Reed described the initiative at a Palantir conference last month as a necessary modernization step for a chain that still generates $1.1 billion in annual print revenue but faces steady circulation declines.

«We're actually an intelligence organization now,» Reed said during a demonstration of the platform, «because of the shift to online and the data we have on consumers.» The demo featured an «anonymized» reader profile named Marcus, illustrating what Reed called a continuous feedback loop built around reader behavior.

The reaction from the company's journalists was swift. In a joint letter organized by the NewsGuild-CWA, staffers argued that Palantir's work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement creates a conflict for reporters covering immigration enforcement and protests. They also raised concerns about reader data and public trust.

«Every problem we have with this partnership really comes down to trust,» Mike Davis, an investigative reporter at the Asbury Park Press, told Straight Arrow News.

Palantir, led by CEO Alex Karp, holds billions of dollars in federal contracts, including for the Defense Department's flagship data fusion platform. The company's involvement with ICE has been a particular flashpoint for the union.

Company executives have pushed back against the union's claims. Reed, Chief Content Officer Kristin Roberts, and communications executive Lark-Marie Anton said Palantir's software works only with governed, «anonymized» data and that the company has no direct access to newsroom systems, reporter notes, or subscriber records. They described some union statements as falsehoods.

Reed said the AI tools could make the newsroom and business more productive and profitable, and he hoped they would allow the company to hire more journalists rather than replace them.

The dispute comes after years of cutbacks at the company formerly known as Gannett. Since merging with GateHouse Media in 2019, it has undergone repeated layoffs, essentially halving its workforce by 2024, even as CEO compensation rose amid flat or declining median employee pay. The company had roughly 7,500 U.S. employees last year, about 15% of them unionized, according to its latest SEC filing.

USA Today is not alone in partnering with Palantir. Thomson Reuters has supplied data used in federal immigration surveillance tools. Marketing firms Stagwell and Zeta Global have worked with Palantir on ad targeting. Fox News Digital used Palantir to build an internal platform supporting article production, and Axel Springer, owner of Politico and Business Insider, has partnered with the company to better understand audience behavior.

Last month, Axel Springer gave Palantir cofounder and chairman Peter Thiel its 2026 Axel Springer Award, recognizing him for his «transformative impact on the digital age.» A decade earlier, Thiel secretly bankrolled Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker Media, contributing to the publication's bankruptcy. Some USA Today staffers see that episode as part of a broader pattern of Thiel-linked hostility toward the press.

Reporters have also raised concerns about AI's impact on their work. While USA Today currently prohibits AI-written articles, its newsrooms use AI tools for research, investigative tasks like filing public records requests, and generating headlines. The company is also feeding its journalism into generative AI products, including its DeeperDive answer engine, and through distribution and licensing deals with Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft. It has sued Google, along with the Daily Mail and a class of about 5,000 other publishers, alleging the search giant overcharged them through its advertising technology platform.

As Reed put it on the investor call: «We recognize that we have to create and format content for humans and for machines.»

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Caroline Mercer

World News Correspondent

Caroline Mercer covers public affairs, politics, business, culture and daily news for Core Memo. The role focuses on verification, context, and clear explanations for readers.

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