They 'had a choice—and they chose Trump': Google HQ vandalised in climate protest against Big Tech

Extinction Rebellion, an international organisation known for its protests seeking to compel government action on the climate and nature emergency, on Tuesday (Jul 8) carried out action at Google's Terminal headquarters in Hudson Square. Activists from the organisation poured paint on Google property and displayed banners as they protested against US President Donald Trump and Big Tech's "climate hypocrisy".

Shortly before noon on Tuesday, Extinction Rebellion activists entered Google's St. John's Terminal headquarters in Hudson Square and took "direct action" against Big Tech’s climate hypocrisy. Two activists were arrested for the protest.

The group's activists "poured paint in front of Google’s prominent interior branding signage, climbed onto the desk, unfurled a banner reading ‘Tech Loves Trump’ while chanting 'Google! Dump Trump!'."

The latest action, as per the group, was part of its campaign against Big Tech's climate hypocrisy: "As inequality surges and once-in-a-century disasters become annual events, Big Tech stays silent—choosing profits over principles, and access over accountability". Nate Smith, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion NYC, said, "Big Tech had a choice—and they chose Trump." Smith alleged that tech giants like Google and Apple, along with Trump, were "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".

In a press release sent to WION, Extinction Rebellion said that the action was a result of their "mounting outrage over tech CEOs' conspicuous silence and presence at Trump's 2025 inauguration." It alleged that CEOs Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, and Mark Zuckerberg "stood front and centre—endorsing a regime" that is "committed to dismantling environmental protections and powering AI data centres with coal." Since his return to power, Trump has taken steps to roll back a number of Joe Biden-era climate regulations and has also pulled the US out of the Paris climate agreement, among other things.

On Monday (Jul 7), the group held a similar protest at Apple's Fifth Avenue store, where an activist was arrested after spray-painting "Tim + Trump = Toxic" and "Boycott" on the store's glass entrance.

In its own words, "Extinction Rebellion is an international movement that uses nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action on the climate and nature emergency." The group is infamous for using extreme protest measures like pouring paint on artworks. Previously, the group faced extreme backlash when its activists glued themselves to a Pablo Picasso painting in Australia.