Google has received backlash for renaming the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, some even calling the tech giant a ‘bootlicker’.
The discussion went on in the Google subreddit on 12 February, where users of Google map said changing the name of the gulf was unnecessary and cowardly.
What happened
Before his inauguration, new president of the United States Donald Trump promised to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
He made good this promise after the inauguration, with all official documents now referring to the gulf as the Gulf of America.
Shortly after, Google changed the name of the location as well to reflect the new name, at least for American users of Google Map, an idea that many have challenged.
A Stanford law professor Mark Lemley was quoted as saying:
“While the name change was handed down by executive order from the president, Google has no legal requirement to adopt this naming convention, nor does any other private entity.”
It is this position that has angered users who have then criticized the decision with harsh backlash following.
Google has been doing it
Although this case has gotten a lot of attention and criticism probably because it involves the most powerful country in the world, it seems Google has been changing the names of locations on its maps for a while.
According to one of the Redditors, Google has always changed the names of locations whenever there’s an official instruction.
“But that’s how they have always done it. Whenever any official source (Governments) update the name of some place Google takes that name and updates their maps accordingly. It’s not as common as most countries aren’t run by petulant children, but there are quite a few examples on Google Maps.”
Interestingly, the change is only visible to American users while the rest of the world still sees the location as the Gulf of Mexico on the map.
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