Google sent personal and financial information of student journalist to ICE

Google turned over a large cache of personal information about a student and journalist to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after receiving a subpoena that was not signed off by a judge, according to a report from The Intercept.

The search and advertising company provided ICE with usernames, physical addresses, and an itemised breakdown of Google services linked to the account of Amandla Thomas-Johnson, a British student and journalist who briefly attended a pro-Palestinian protest in 2024 while enrolled at Cornell University in New York.

Google also disclosed Thomas-Johnson’s IP addresses, phone numbers, subscriber numbers and identifying details, plus the credit card and bank account numbers tied to his Google account, the report said.

The subpoena reportedly included a gag order and did not spell out a clear reason ICE wanted Thomas-Johnson’s data. Thomas-Johnson has said the data demand arrived within about two hours of Cornell notifying him that the U.S. government had revoked his student visa.

The incident is cited as another example of U.S. authorities using administrative subpoenas — a contentious legal tool — to seek user information from tech companies, including in cases involving people who criticise or protest the Trump administration or share information about ICE activity.

Neither ICE nor Google immediately responded to requests for comment, according to reports on the story.

Administrative subpoenas are issued directly by federal agencies without a judge’s review. They generally cannot compel companies to disclose the contents of emails, search histories, or location data. Still, they can request metadata and identifying details — such as email addresses and related account information — that can be used to identify the person behind an online account.

Unlike a court order, companies are not required to comply with an administrative subpoena and may challenge or decline such requests.

Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation sent a letter to Amazon, Apple, Discord, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Reddit c, calling on the companies to stop providing user data to the Department of Homeland Security, including CE, in response to administrative subpoenas.

“Based on our own contact with targeted users, we are deeply concerned your companies are failing to challenge unlawful surveillance and defend user privacy and speech,” the letter said, urging companies to push DHS to seek court confirmation and to notify users with enough time to challenge subpoenas themselves.

Thomas-Johnson told The Intercept: “We need to think very hard about what resistance looks like under these conditions…where government and Big Tech know so much about us, can track us, can imprison, can destroy us in a variety of ways.”