PROTEST SPREADS TO GOOGLE

xrnyc_press@unitedrebellion.com

ACTIVISTS DISRUPT GOOGLE HQ OVER CLIMATE BETRAYAL

NEW YORK, NY — Just two days after a high-profile protest at the Apple’s Fifth Avenue store, Extinction Rebellion NYC continued its campaign against Big Tech’s climate hypocrisy with a direct action at Google’s St. John’s Terminal headquarters in Hudson Square.

Shortly before noon, two activists poured paint in front of Google’s prominent interior branding signage, climbed onto the desk, unfurled a banner reading “Tech Loves Trump,” and chanted “Google! Dump Trump!” Both were arrested.

“Big Tech had a choice—and they chose Trump,” said Nate Smith, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion NYC. “They’re propping up a regime that’s torching climate policy, reopening coal plants, and putting our future on the line. This is a betrayal of everything they claim to stand for.”

This action comes after mounting outrage over tech CEOs’ conspicuous silence and presence at Trump’s 2025 inauguration. Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, and Mark Zuckerberg stood front and center—endorsing a regime committed to dismantling environmental protections and powering AI data centers with coal.

As inequality surges and once-in-a-century disasters become annual events, Big Tech stays silent—choosing profits over principles, and access over accountability.

Google’s greenhouse gas emissions have surged more than 50% since 2019, fueled by energy-intensive AI data centers. The latest climate models project 3°C of global warming by 2060. Meanwhile, recent research warns of up to 4 billion deaths and a 50% loss of global GDP this century.

This protest comes amid record-breaking rainfall in Central Texas, where the nation mourns devastating losses, including children.

Extinction Rebellion NYC calls on the public to vote with its dollars; the future depends on it. Boycott tech companies that enable authoritarianism and expand fossil fuel use.

Photos and videos available here. Content is free to use with credit to Extinction Rebellion NYC.

QUOTES

“Sundar Pichai called climate change humanity’s next big moonshot. Now, more than ever, bold innovation means standing up against Trump’s harmful policies. We need leadership, courage, and urgency worthy of humanity’s greatest missions.” — Miles Grant, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion
“Google claims to be a climate leader, but their emissions are soaring and they’re cozying up to Trump as he reopens coal plants and guts environmental protections. This isn’t innovation — it’s complicity. While my homestate is underwater right now, Google stays silent. What matters more — AI, or a livable future?” said Danielle, a Texas-native Extinction Rebellion activist who joined the action.
“Sundar Pichai has a choice: stand with science and justice, or bend to authoritarianism and climate denial. If Google won’t take a stand, who will? You can’t claim to care about the future while enabling its destruction. Don’t be evil. Break with Trump. Act like the world depends on it — because it does,” said Devin Lilly, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion.
“AI’s soaring energy demands will add billions of tons of carbon emissions and accelerate climate catastrophe. If Big Tech won’t slow down, the rest of us must step up—to resist, and to demand a future where Big Tech doesn’t cost us the planet,” said Kaitlyn Quan, an Extinction Rebellion activist who took part in the action.

ABOUT EXTINCTION REBELLION

Extinction Rebellion is an international movement that uses nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action on the climate and nature emergency.

Extinction Rebellion exists because the conventional approaches: voting, writing to politicians, lobbying, and signing petitions, have failed. Powerful political and economic interests prevent change, as does our outdated political system itself. Our strategy is therefore one of nonviolent, disruptive civil disobedience – in short, it is a strategy of rebellion.

Climate boiling is here and now. It’s happening all around us, and it hits historically vulnerable communities hardest of all. Extinction Rebellion demands that all of us, especially major institutions and governments, tell the truth about the ongoing Sixth Mass Extinction. Extinction Rebellion believes that, when faced with the government’s criminal inaction, it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, through peaceful civil disobedience .

Internationally, Extinction Rebellion has been demanding that those with power act now to halt the worst outcomes of the climate catastrophe currently unfolding. Unlike other climate advocacy groups, Extinction Rebellion understands that we must go beyond politics and establish Citizens’ Assemblies. Citizens’ Assemblies are deliberative bodies that are, like juries, formed of randomly selected members of the public. Assembly members hear expert testimony and develop recommendations on specific policy issues. Only through this method can we achieve the fair and just transition we need.

Leading by example, Extinction Rebellion is fighting for a more stable, sustainable world.

actions, pressMun XRJuly 8, 2025