EFF warns Google to stop sharing user data with ICE
Google disclosed personal and financial information belonging to a student journalist to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to The Intercept. This action was taken in response to a subpoena that had not received judicial approval.
The information provided by Google included Amandla Thomas-Johnson’s usernames, physical addresses, IP addresses, phone numbers, subscriber numbers and identities, credit card numbers, and bank account numbers linked to his Google account. An itemized list of services associated with his Google account was also released. Thomas-Johnson, a British student and journalist, attended Cornell University in New York and participated in a pro-Palestinian protest in 2024.
The subpoena reportedly contained a gag order and did not specify the justification for the data request. Thomas-Johnson stated that the demand for his data occurred within two hours of Cornell University informing him of the revocation of his student visa by the U.S. government.
This incident reflects a trend in which the U.S. government utilizes administrative subpoenas to obtain private data from individuals critical of the Trump administration. Previous targets have included anonymous Instagram accounts sharing information on ICE activities and individuals protesting Trump’s policies.
Administrative subpoenas are issued directly by federal agencies without judicial oversight. These demands cannot compel the release of email content, online searches, or location data. However, they can request metadata and other identifiable information, such as email addresses, to de-anonymize online accounts. Unlike court orders, companies are not obligated to comply with administrative subpoenas.
Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sent a letter to Amazon, Apple, Discord, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Reddit. The letter urged these companies to cease providing data to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, in response to administrative subpoenas.
The EFF letter stated, “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.” It further urged companies to “insist that DHS seek court confirmation that their demands are not unlawful or unconstitutional prior to companies disclosing any user information” and to “notify users about demands for their information with meaningful time to challenge subpoenas on their own.”
ICE and Google have not yet provided comments regarding the situation. Thomas-Johnson commented, “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.”