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The long-dreaded impacts of AI on the sustainability of the news industry are becoming more apparent, with companies citing downturns in web traffic as a reason for job cuts. At the same time, many of those same companies appear to be going all in on AI, spruiking the need for partnerships with tech companies to increase efficiency, develop new revenue streams, or just to ensure they keep up with the competition. Many partnerships revolve around licensing news content for chatbot training or AI search to companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. But another well-known tech player has also started to make ripples across the news industry.

In August, the largest newspaper publisher in the US, USA Today Co., announced in its earnings call that it had entered into a partnership with US data analytics and security giant Palantir. The news company is employing Palantir’s analytical AI to help convert their large, distributed audience base into subscriptions, advertising and e-commerce revenue. Palantir’s software allows the news company to collate and analyse data that is fragmented across their various platforms, enhancing personalisation and targeting, including through automated embedding of affiliate links.

In an interview with Fast Company, USA Today Co. CEO Mike Reed said that the business goal is to engage more readers and keep them engaged for longer, and this requires delivering content and products that consumers want: by ‘looking at the data and understanding what’s resonating with consumers, what are they focusing on and … saying, "They’re not paying any attention to this, maybe we should do less of that or none of that." Worryingly, the ‘less of that’ appears to be news. Reed continued, ‘There’s hard news that we cover ... that people don’t care about. So let’s do less of it.’ 
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At a Palantir conference in September, Reed glossed the deal as a sign that the news company was ‘now an intelligence company’. Presumably he means marketing intelligence, rather than espionage, but the partnership has spooked many of his staff, with more than 800 employees at 31 unionised newsrooms signing a joint statement calling on the company to drop the deal. Their concerns are mostly with Palantir itself, which is infamous for its partnerships with state defence and security organisations, including the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), and has been tied to human-rights abuses and disregard for civil liberties. This consistently makes Palantir the subject of media scrutiny, and journalists are concerned that the deal will weaken that scrutiny and undermine reader trust. 

The deal with USA Today follows those Palantir has penned with fellow big-hitters Thomson Reuters, Fox News and Axel Springer, the last of which has also raised concerns about editorial independence. Reflecting the longstanding ties between leaders of the two companies, Axel Springer granted Palantir co-founder and democracy-sceptic Peter Thiel its 2026 Axel Springer award, which honours ‘entrepreneurial spirit, innovative energy, and societal impact’. Observing that Thiel has been ‘attacked and vilified’ for his views on ‘innovation, freedom, and the future of Western societies’, Axel Springer assures us that it instead ‘stands for freedom of speech and a culture of open discussions’. Yet Thiel himself is at best ambivalent about democracy, without which freedom of speech has no political purpose. 

USA Today Co. journalists also see in the Palantir deal the latest attempt by executives to ‘dive headfirst into A.I. without sufficient regard for workers or the public after decimating newsrooms across the country’. Indeed, last month USA Today announced staff cuts across its business in response to ‘pressure on traffic, revenue and growth’, resulting from digital platforms increasingly keeping users ‘within their own ecosystems’. 

While these pressures are undeniable, staff are concerned about jumping into bed with another tech company – particularly one whose integration into national security infrastructure is so extensive that it has led some European governments to pull away from any further partnerships. Part of this is due to questions over data control and sovereignty, given the ‘black box’ nature of the company’s products. UTS Today Co. executive Kristen Roberts gave assurances that its data would remain in house, noting, ‘They don’t work in our systems … We’re in their shit. They’re not in ours.’ With a team of Palantir engineers embedded at the news company, you can forgive staff for being sceptical.

References

1. USA Today Co. Earnings Call Transcript: https://irp.cdn-website.com/d6c3afba/files/uploaded/TDAY+Q2+2026+Prepared+Remarks_8.6.26.pdf  
2. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/91608398/usa-today-palantir 
3. The News Guild. https://newsguild.org/usa-today-journalists-demand-company-end-palantir-relationship/ 
4. Nieman Lab. https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/americas-largest-newspaper-chain-usa-today-co-partners-with-palantir-to-analyze-audience-data/?relatedstory 
5. Middle East Eye. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/how-palantir-becoming-embedded-major-newsroom-operations
6. Axel Springer. https://www.axelspringer.com/en/ax-press-release/peter-thiel-to-receive-the-2026-axel-springer-award 
   X.com.
7. https://x.com/BenMullin/status/2095614508764914062/photo/1 
   Politico. https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-wants-to-kick-its-palantir-habit/ 
8. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/91608398/usa-today-palantir