Denver Demonstrators Demand Personal Privacy at Palantir Headquarters

At the Colorado Capitol, overlooking Downtown Denver’s glass skyscrapers and Greek Revival municipal buildings, flags were unfurled while hand-made placards and posters were distributed to the few dozen who had gathered there.

On this Monday afternoon, rain teasing to disrupt the summer’s sun but never coming, concerned Coloradans discussed the state of artificial intelligence and surveillance. Conversations included apprehension about recent restrictions on civil liberties paired with being tracked and traced by widely unregulated technology funded by tax payers.

Coordinated with demonstrations in Palo Alto, Seattle, and New York City, Palantir Technologies’ presence in their cities that day is what had commanded their cries of dissent.

Headquartered in Denver, Palantir is a technology company founded by PayPal architect Peter Thiel and his Stanford roommate Alex Karp. They create software systems meant to capture consumer and customer data and to quickly synthesize the information collected to drive decisions. Ones made by humans and artificial intelligence.

In the private sector, that consumer data is used to help sell cheeseburgers or seat upgrades. With their largest clients, though, it’s used to choose who lives and who dies.

Last year, the U.S. Army, under the Biden Administration, gave Palantir more than $400,000,000 to help streamline their military force’s management of recruitment, deployment, and “readiness.” President Trump’s Department of Defense has since swelled their investment to more than $1,000,000,000 – anticipating a near future of increased need for military “readiness.”

Protestors carry anti-Palantir signs through the streets of Denver, demanding the artificial intelligence technology company working with military and police forces on civilian surveillance move their headquarters out of the city on July 14, 2025. (Photo by Vince Chandler / Yellow Scene Magazine)

Before the Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law by President Trump, making Immigrations and Customs Enforcement the largest federal policing force, ICE was already giving $30,000,000 to the artificial intelligence technology company, using it to make individual and mass detainment decisions.

As Stephen Miller continues his calls to increase arrest numbers, and now with a new $170,000,000,000+ budget, increased investment in the platform is expected. Some deaths in Palestine have been labeled accidents, like the 2024 killing of World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza, while Palantir allegedly partners with the IDF to aid in their targeting and decision-making.

Marching through the streets of Denver, the protestors chanted slogans carrying the names of company and government leadership, demanding that technologies of war not be used unethically and to stop the intentional targeting of marginalized and subjugated communities. Their banner at the front of the march read “Palantir is Watching You,” and some in the crowd wore facial coverings, acknowledging the technology they protested could likely see them.

Former Palantir employee and whistleblower Juan Sebastian Pinto leads a march from Palantir HQ to the Colorado Capitol in Denver, Colorado on July 14, 2025. (Photo by Vince Chandler / Yellow Scene Magazine)

One uncovered face in the crowd, though, was steadfast and sure as the march approached The Tabor Center in downtown Denver, home headquarters of Silicon Valley expat Thiel’s company. This was former Palantir employee and whistleblower Juan Sebastian Pinto. Parking a pick-up truck to be a makeshift stage, crowd members were invited to a microphone to speak their mind. Sentiments of being over-policed were shared, one Quaker activist sang a pointed song they’d written, and then Juan took the mic.

“I think fundamentally, what we are all here to represent is support for the families that are broken by these technologies,” he told those assembled, to nods and cheers of agreement. “And to bring a wider awareness to everyone in our city, where Palantir is headquartered, that we don’t support economies of mass resettlement, of deportation, or of genocide.”

While a majority remained to picket, Juan wrapped up his comments and invited 10 members to try to gain entrance to the building via a rented meeting space he had secured before the day’s event. Walking past a lone private security guard and signs reading the private plaza and building were closed to anyone who didn’t have permission to be there – the rented space inside provided them that permission in theory – they attempted the front door.

Behind the locked doors, militarized police waited in the lobby. They obviously weren’t going to get inside, let alone be permitted to make the case that they had a meeting. The group linked arms and sat down outside the doors. Delivering a short speech, Juan was soon interrupted by the arrival of Denver Police, clearly identified and wearing no masks, on the plaza.

Trying to reason with their police point of contact, explaining their right to protest, the officers gave no quarter and encouraged them to return to the sidewalk if they wished to continue. Otherwise, should they remain on the private property, they would be forcibly detained and arrested. With curious onlookers from the building above peering out the high rise windows, the protestors allowed themselves to be pushed back down a ramp and re-joined the picketers.

Protestors temporarily blocked the entry way to The Tabor Center, home to Palantir headquarters, after being denied entry by building security and Denver Police on Monday, July 14, 2025. (Photo by Vince Chandler / Yellow Scene Magazine)

They demonstrated, they demanded, they spoke with curious passersby, educating and distributing literature. Then, they continued on, hoping to continue to raise awareness in the hometown of Palantir HQ. Marching a new route through downtown and back to the Capitol, Juan spoke from the pick-up truck turned mobile stage while signs and chants filled the street around him.

Resolved to return, the organizers’ remaining snacks and water were distributed to those in need in the large parks in the state’s government center. Dates and times for the next demonstration were made clear. This wasn’t going to be over today, but for now today was over.

The following afternoon, talking by phone with Yellow Scene Magazine, Juan reflected on the day’s action.

“It’s impressive to see so many people come out on a Monday, in the middle of the day, knowledgeable on the issue,” he said before bringing the conversation to the group of 50 activists who had disrupted Denver’s economic corridor, peacefully and openly walking the avenues with their voices high, unarmed.

He contrasts that by being greeted with an intentional display of overarmed militarized police, “It gives us a sense of power, the feeling was crazy to me. Alex Karp and Peter Thiel could not walk through the streets of Denver like that, because they’re afraid of how people would react if they were seen in public. They can hide behind a bunch of money as much as they want, but they don’t have that freedom.”

Along the route, and while picketing, Juan and the group of activists took careful care to greet curious onlookers with kind conversations, asking them to not think about the political motivation of the moment but the encroachment of civil liberties. While Americans push back at challenges and oversteps to due process, the issue of personal privacy being lost is raised.

“Consumers themselves have to pay attention. America hasn’t taken up the fight for privacy like Europe or other places have. The fight for privacy is not about you and your secrets, more than that it’s about your autonomy and freedom of choice,” he mused, the sounds of the street swirling in the background, as he walked into a late lunch.

Best known for capturing striking content from the frontlines of social movements, Heartland EMMY-nominated filmmaker and photographer Vince Chandler has spent 20 years creating art and documentary visuals across the U.S. They served as Communications Director for Denver City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, and Vince has earned national recognition for their work as a visual journalist for The Denver Post. Vince was the principal cinematographer for the feature documentary film Running With My Girls, which premiered at the 2021 Denver Film Festival.

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What does resistance & resilience look like in the Heartland of America?

Sometimes it’s a protest outside an ICE detention center. Sometimes it’s a rural nurse explaining how Medicaid cuts will shutter the town hospital. Sometimes, it’s a law professor teaching systemic racism at a University in a state where CRT is banned in public schools.

As Trump’s second term unfolds — and the One Big Beautiful Act guts healthcare, empowers ICE, and reshapes American life — independent journalism is more vital than ever. However, the national press rarely shows up in the places where policy has the most impact.

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These American Crossroads is a collaboration between Vince Chandler, Emmy-nominated visual journalist, and Yellow Scene Magazine, Boulder County’s only independent newsroom.

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