(Bloomberg) -- Just about a week after signing a controversial contract with the UK’s national health service, Palantir Technologies Inc. launched an influencer marketing campaign to counter criticism of the patient data platform it’s building, potentially breaching terms of the deal.

After winning the bid on Nov. 21, Palantir contracted with a digital marketing agency to solicit interest from content personalities. “I’m getting in touch regarding one of our current campaigns,” the marketers wrote in emails to influencers, according to copies of communications obtained by the legal nonprofit Good Law Project and shared with Bloomberg. The pitch said the objective was “to clear up misinformation relating to some recent data privacy concerns that were shared in the UK press.”

But the US data-analysis company co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel hadn’t cleared the campaign with NHS England, a spokesperson told Bloomberg. According to the heavily redacted version of the deal, published in late December, Palantir is prohibited from making any press announcements about the contract or referencing the NHS in any marketing campaign without prior written consent. The NHS takes any potential breach of contract by a supplier seriously and is investigating what happened, the spokesperson said.

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Palantir called the campaign, run by Topham Guerin, an “exploratory project” that never took off. “We decided not to pursue the project — as such, the campaign was not discussed with NHS England,” said Louis Mosley, Palantir executive vice president for UK and Europe. Palantir is no longer working with Topham Guerin, which has previously run campaigns for the Conservative Party.

According to a briefing document dated Nov. 28 that was sent to influencers last month, Palantir planned to take the campaign live before Dec. 22. 

The possible breach of contract represents a shaky start for Palantir, whose involvement with Britain’s health service has been heavily scrutinized by patient advocacy groups concerned about the company’s ability to safely handle private medical data. Palantir bid together with Accenture Plc for the contract to overhaul the National Health Service’s patient data system and will receive £330 million ($419 million) to build the so-called Federated Data Platform, according to the contract.   

The Good Law Project has been a particularly outspoken critic, in part because of Thiel’s disparaging comments about the NHS. The organization has for months raised concerns about how Palantir and NHS England will safeguard patient information while creating a platform to help hospitals analyze medical data, detect patterns and allocate resources. The organization has described Palantir as “possibly the dodgiest company ever to gain access to our medical records” and criticized the lack of transparency about the way the platform will process patient data.

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Palantir has concerns about the Good Law Project spreading misinformation about its work, Mosley said. Last month, an agency subcontracted by Topham Guerin contacted health care, tech and data privacy influencers to ask about their fees for posting a video and tweet to help raise awareness and “educate” the public about Palantir’s contract. 

A separate briefing document called out the the Good Law Project as being “extremely critical” and noted that it circulated “misinformation” online. It outlined “key messaging” for the influencers, including highlighting Palantir’s previous work supporting the NHS Covid vaccine rollout, explaining the purpose of the data platform, and countering allegations that the company would sell patient data. Influencers were instructed to “keep the brand confidential and not tag Palantir” in their posts.  

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