Overview
- An ICE administrative subpoena published by The Intercept shows Google provided Amandla Thomas-Johnson’s usernames, addresses, IPs, phone numbers, subscriber identifiers, service list, and bank and credit card numbers.
- The subpoena asked Google not to disclose the demand for an indefinite period and cited only a generic immigration-law rationale with no specific explanation.
- TechCrunch corroborated that the request did not receive prior judicial approval and concerned identifiable metadata rather than the contents of emails or searches.
- Thomas-Johnson, a British student and journalist briefly linked to a 2024 pro-Palestinian protest at Cornell, learned in April that Google had already shared his metadata with DHS and is now abroad.
- The EFF and ACLU of Northern California urged Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Discord, Microsoft, and Reddit to resist DHS administrative subpoenas, seek court confirmation, and notify users in time to contest demands.