In September 2024, Amandla Thomas-Johnson briefly attended a pro-Palestinian protest while studying in the U.S. on a student visa. By April 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement had sent Google an administrative subpoena for his data. The next month, Google handed over Thomas-Johnson's information to ICE without giving him the chance to challenge the subpoena, breaking a nearly decade-long promise to notify users before handing their data to law enforcement.

Thomas-Johnson, a Ph.D. student and dual British and Trinidad and Tobago citizen, had left the U.S. believing he was beyond federal reach. But while in Geneva, he received an email from Google stating they had already disclosed his account data to the Department of Homeland Security. The subpoena requested subscriber information including IP addresses, physical addresses, and session times. While the request appeared narrow on paper, Thomas-Johnson argues these fragments create an intimate surveillance profile capable of revealing location patterns, communication habits, and personal associations.

Electronic Frontier Foundation lawyers have filed complaints with California and New York Attorneys General, accusing Google of deceptive trade practices for breaking its notification promise. The case highlights how technology companies' massive data stores can facilitate arbitrary investigations when combined with state power. Thomas-Johnson questions whether he can safely travel or continue his reporting work, wondering who can be held accountable for what he sees as a dangerous precedent in digital privacy and political expression.