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Sundar Pichai Faces Boos and Walkout at Stanford Graduation Over Google’s Ties to Israel and ICE
Over the weekend, Google CEO Sundar Pichai faced a significant backlash while delivering his commencement speech at Stanford University, where he earned his graduate degree in materials science and engineering. Approximately 200 graduating students reportedly walked out, while others loudly booed the tech executive during the ceremony.
The protests centered on Google’s defense-related contracts, most notably Project Nimbus—a controversial $1.2 billion deal shared with Amazon to provide cloud and AI services to the Israeli military. Demonstrators also condemned Google’s relationship with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The walkout was organized by campus activist groups including Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine, No Tech for Apartheid, and Tech for Liberation.
Student signs displayed slogans such as “ICE SPIES WITH GOOGLE AI,” “GENOCIDE RUNS ON GOOGLE,” and “FREE FREE PALESTINE,” according to a press release associated with the protest. Online videos showed participants waving Palestinian flags and chanting “free Palestine.”
“We are walking out because we refuse to glorify the corporations that fuel this violence and exercise our power to choose differently,” read a statement from the protest organizers. TechCrunch has reached out to Google for comment.
As the war in Gaza has continued, Google’s involvement in Project Nimbus has sparked protests both inside and outside the company. In 2024, Google fired 28 workers for protesting the contract, but internal dissent has persisted. In April 2026, the Electronic Frontier Foundation released a report criticizing Google and Amazon for “choosing to look the other way” regarding Israel’s use of their services, despite acknowledging the risks.
Project Nimbus also involves Amazon, while Microsoft has faced similar scrutiny for its support of the Israeli military. However, in 2025, Microsoft restricted the Israeli government’s use of its technology after an investigation revealed its cloud services were being used for mass surveillance of Palestinians. A 2026 Guardian investigation further prompted Microsoft to tighten its human rights measures.
The student protest drew criticism from prominent business leaders. Vinod Khosla, billionaire co-founder of Sun Microsystems and a well-known venture capitalist, posted on X that the protest was “biased, idiotic, short-sighted, and very selfish,” arguing that the students “ignored the bottom 3 billion people on this planet that could benefit from AI.”