The Swedish Police Authority has for at least five years been using an AI-based analysis tool from the notorious American security company Palantir.

The program, which has been specially adapted for Swedish conditions, can within seconds compile comprehensive profiles of individuals by combining data from various registers.

Behind the system stands the American tech company Palantir, which is internationally controversial and has been accused of involvement in surveillance activities. This summer, the company was identified in a UN report as complicit in genocide in Gaza.

The Swedish version of Palantir's Gotham platform is called Acus and uses artificial intelligence to compile, analyze and visualize large amounts of information. According to an investigation by the left-wing newspaper Dagens ETC, investigators using the system can quickly obtain detailed personal profiles that combine data from surveillance and criminal registers with information from Bank-id (Sweden's national digital identification system), mobile operators and social media.

A former analyst employed by the police, who chooses to remain anonymous, describes to the newspaper how the system was surrounded by great secrecy:

— There was very much hush-hush around that program.

Rejection of document requests

When the newspaper requested information about the system and how it is used, they were met with rejection. The Swedish Police Authority cited confidentiality and stated that they can neither "confirm nor deny relationships with Palantir" citing "danger to national security".

This is not the first time Palantir's tools have been used in Swedish law enforcement. In the high-profile Operation Trojan Shield, the FBI, with support from Palantir's technology, managed to infiltrate and intercept the encrypted messaging app Anom.

The operation led to the arrest of a large number of people connected to serious crime, both in Sweden and internationally. The FBI called the operation "a shining example of innovative law enforcement".

But the method has also received criticism. Attorney Johan Grahn, who has represented defendants in several Anom-related cases, is critical of the approach.

— In these cases, it has been indiscriminate mass surveillance, he states.

Mapping dissidents

Palantir has long sparked debate due to its assignments and methods. The company works with both American agencies and foreign security services.

In the United States, the surveillance company's systems are used to map undocumented immigrants. In the United Kingdom, British police have been criticized for using the company's technology to build registers of citizens' sex lives, political views, religious affiliation, ethnicity and union involvement – information that according to observers violates fundamental privacy principles.

This summer, a UN report also identified Palantir as co-responsible for acts of genocide in Gaza, after the company's analysis tools were allegedly used in attacks where Palestinian civilians were killed.

How extensive the Swedish police's use of the system is, and what legal frameworks govern the handling of Swedish citizens' personal data in the platform, remains unclear as long as the Swedish Police Authority chooses to keep the information classified.