More than 44,000 people have filed formal objections to stop Palantir's software from handling their NHS health records.
The objections invoke Article 21 of the UK GDPR, which lets individuals demand an organization stop processing their personal data. Each filing asks NHS England to halt the Federated Data Platform from storing, sharing, or using that person's records. The Guardian reported the 44,000-plus total on September 30, 2026. The platform, which runs on Palantir technology, is built to let NHS organizations analyze patient data across England.
Article 21 objections are opt-outs, not a referendum - NHS England can still process a person's records if it decides the public interest in running the platform outweighs their individual objection. The scale here is the story: a five-figure number of separately filed legal objections is an unusually large, organized show of resistance to how the NHS hands patient data to a private contractor.
Whether 44,000 objections move NHS England at all remains to be seen - but it's a blunt reminder that filing an individual legal objection is about the only lever patients have over a platform they never chose to join.