Big Tech CEOs Go Silent While Minneapolis Burns

Over 400 tech workers have signed a petition demanding their CEOs speak out. But where exactly are those CEOs when it matters?

As federal agents gunned down nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Silicon Valley's most powerful executives maintained a deafening silence. The contrast with 2020, when George Floyd's death sparked immediate condemnation from tech's elite, couldn't be starker.

A Tale of Two Saturdays

Saturday evening presented a study in priorities. While 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen, lay dead from federal gunfire in Minneapolis, Tim Cook was 1,100 miles away at the White House, attending a private screening of "Melania." Andy Jassy of Amazon and Lisa Su of AMD joined him for the documentary—ironically produced by Amazon MGM Studios.

The Trump administration has labeled Pretti a "domestic terrorist," with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claiming the victim brought a semiautomatic weapon "to what was supposed to be a peaceful protest." There's no evidence Pretti brandished a gun.

When Voices Mattered

Rewind to 2020. George Floyd's death in the same city triggered an avalanche of corporate statements and commitments. Mark Zuckerberg and Cisco's Chuck Robbins donated millions to Black Lives Matter. Apple, Airbnb, Uber, Intel, YouTube, and Shopify all made significant financial commitments to equality groups.

Tim Cook sent a company-wide note condemning Floyd's killing. The message was clear: tech leaders wouldn't stay silent in the face of injustice.

Fast-forward to 2026, and those same voices have vanished.

The Courage of the Middle Ranks

While megacap CEOs remain mum, some industry figures are breaking ranks. Former Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun didn't mince words, writing "M U R D E R E R S" on X while resharing graphic footage of the weekend shooting.

Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn's cofounder and Microsoft board member, wrote: "There is politics but humanity should transcend that." He's been calling out the silence from tech's top brass.

At Google, longtime AI leader Jeff Dean took a stand: "Every person regardless of political affiliation should be denouncing this." His colleagues thanked him for speaking up—a telling indicator of the pressure they feel.

Box CEO Aaron Levie captured the zeitgeist: "I think we're in a post truth world where no words matter anymore."

The Employee Revolt

Tech workers aren't waiting for their bosses. A petition circulating since last week demands CEOs take three actions: call the White House to demand ICE leave cities, cancel all ICE contracts, and speak out publicly against ICE violence.

With over 400 signatures from Google, Meta, and Amazon employees, the document represents a grassroots challenge to executive silence. "Today we're calling on our CEOs to pick up the phone again," it states.

The contrast is intentional—referencing how these same leaders "picked up the phone" in 2020 to condemn police brutality.

Rare Exceptions

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei referenced "the horror we're seeing in Minnesota," emphasizing his essay's focus on "preserving democratic values and rights at home." Co-founder Christopher Olah said the federal agent "killing an ICU nurse for seemingly no reason and with no provocation" shocked his conscience.

OpenAI'sJames Dyett delivered perhaps the sharpest critique, noting how tech leaders vocally opposed California's wealth tax while remaining silent about "masked ICE agents terrorizing communities and executing civilians in the streets."

Y Combinator'sPaul Graham amplified the message: "How bad do things have to get before you say something?"

The Power They Wield

Tech CEOs have proven their influence with Trump before. Last October, when the president threatened to deploy the National Guard in San Francisco, calls from Jensen Huang and Marc Benioff made him back down.

That same influence remains unused as Minneapolis burns.

Meanwhile, over 60 Minnesota-based companies, including Target and UnitedHealth, called for "immediate deescalation" in a Sunday letter. Notably absent: the tech giants.

The Calculation Behind Silence

The silence isn't accidental. These are the same CEOs who rushed to Trump's inauguration last January, many donating to inaugural proceedings. The political calculation is clear: maintain access, avoid confrontation, protect business interests.

But at what cost?