Google handed over a trove of non-public knowledge a few pupil and journalist to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in response to a subpoena that had not been permitted by a decide, according to a report by The Intercept.
The search and promoting tech large supplied ICE with the usernames, bodily addresses, and an itemized checklist of providers related to the Google account of Amandla Thomas-Johnson, a British pupil and journalist who briefly attended a pro-Palestinian protest in 2024 whereas attending Cornell College in New York.
Google additionally turned over Thomas-Johnson’s IP addresses, telephone numbers, subscriber numbers and identities, and bank card and checking account numbers linked to his account.
The subpoena, which reportedly included a gag order, didn’t embody a particular justification for why ICE was requesting Thomas-Johnson’s private knowledge, however the pupil previously said that the demand for his knowledge got here inside two hours of Cornell informing him that the U.S. authorities had revoked his pupil visa.
That is the newest instance of how the U.S. authorities is utilizing a controversial kind of authorized request, known as an administrative subpoena, to demand that tech corporations flip over the non-public knowledge of people who’ve been vital of the Trump administration. This has included nameless Instagram accounts that share details about ICE presence and raids, in addition to individuals who criticize or protest Trump and his insurance policies.
ICE and Google didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Administrative subpoenas are issued straight by federal businesses with out the intervention of a decide. These authorized calls for can’t compel corporations to show over the contents of an individual’s electronic mail accounts, on-line searches, or location knowledge, however can request metadata and different identifiable info, resembling electronic mail addresses, in an try to de-anonymize the proprietor of a sure on-line account.
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June 23, 2026
Not like a court docket order, tech corporations are below no obligation to supply somebody’s knowledge after receiving an administrative subpoena.
Final week, the digital rights group, the Digital Frontier Basis, despatched a letter to Amazon, Apple, Discord, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Reddit, demanding that the businesses cease giving knowledge to the Division of Homeland Safety, which homes ICE, in response to administrative subpoenas.
“Based mostly on our personal contact with focused customers, we’re deeply involved your corporations are failing to problem illegal surveillance and defend consumer privateness and speech,” read the letter.
“We name on corporations in receipt of such subpoenas to insist that DHS search court docket affirmation that their calls for will not be illegal or unconstitutional previous to corporations disclosing any consumer info. We additionally urge you to inform customers about calls for for his or her info with significant time to problem subpoenas on their very own,” it reads.
Thomas-Johnson instructed The Intercept that, “we have to assume very onerous about what resistance appears to be like like below these situations…the place authorities and Huge Tech know a lot about us, can monitor us, can imprison, can destroy us in a wide range of methods.”
