Stanford University Students Wave Palestine Flags, Walk Out as Sundar Pichai Takes Stage

New Delhi: Around 200 students reportedly staged a walkout as Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai took the stage to deliver the commencement address at Stanford University on Sunday (June 14). Others in the audience also "waved banners, blew whistles and waved Palestinian flags before also leaving mid-speech", SFGate reported.

Videos of the incident show students dressed in graduation robes holding the Palestinian flag and wearing keffiyehs as they left the event. According to Breakthrough News, "The walkout was organized by Students for Justice in Palestine and No Tech for Apartheid as a protest against Google’s contracts with the IDF, Dept. of Homeland Security, and ICE."

Several banners referred to Google’s Project Nimbus cloud contract with the Israeli government, which includes services for the Israeli defence ministry and other state agencies.

BREAKING: Stanford University graduates staged a walkout during Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s keynote address at commencement Sunday.

The walkout was organized by Students for Justice in Palestine and No Tech for Apartheid as a protest against Google’s contracts with the IDF, Dept.… pic.twitter.com/j2SI2dtwLC

— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) June 14, 2026

A BBC journalist asked Pichai whether he'd like to react to the protesters after the event, but he did not comment.

Several tech company heads who have spoken at universities recently have been booed by the students when they have brought up artificial intelligence (AI), celebrated it as a positive change and tried to push for its use. Pichai did not mention AI in his speech, instead focusing on his own college experience and life.

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