A mob of vexed Google Maps users are rallying on social media to report the Gulf of America as mislabeled in protest of the company’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
There are multiple threads on Reddit denouncing the change and encouraging users to express their dissatisfaction by reporting the Gulf of America as “misspelled.” That’s in addition to swaths of suggestions to leave negative reviews requesting the location be restored to its prior name, Gulf of Mexico.
There are also at least a handful of entries protesting the renaming on the Google Product Forums, one of which has been seconded nearly 4,000 times. The poster of the entry in question expresses “deep disappointment and concern” for the change.
In one of the forum entries, a Google Product Expert has acknowledged that the renaming is a “complex, sensitive” conundrum, pointing to two blogs — dating back to 2008 and 2009 — with more information about how Google deals with labeling contentious areas and bodies of water.
“Collecting and sharing the most accurate information about place names and borders is a tough task that every map maker faces,” wrote Public Policy Director Bob Boorstin in 2009. “The first sources are the nations themselves, but when neighboring countries claim overlapping territories and conflicting place names, even showing the dispute on a map may be prohibited by local law.”
“While no single authority has all the answers, when deciding how to depict sensitive place names and borders we use guidance from data providers that most accurately describe borders in treaties and other authoritative standards bodies like the United Nations, ISO and the FIPS,” he added.
Indeed, Google reiterated its position in a post on X, noting that for the U.S. it relies on data sourced from the Geographic Names Information System.
Google Maps Users Still Irked
That hasn’t exactly alleviated the concerns of users, though.
Redditors say that Google has removed the button to report a location as incorrectly labeled from the Gulf of America.
Some users claim they’ve left reviews objecting to the renaming, but a quick scan of the Gulf of Mexico — now labeled Gulf of America depending on your location — reveals that the most recent review is from a month ago.
That’s bizarre considering all of the hubbub the renaming has ginned up.
Google has since admitted to removing “policy-violating content.”
“We regularly put protections on places during times when we anticipate an uptick of contributions that are off-topic or unrelated to someone’s direct experience with the place,” a Google spokesperson told me.
I’ve explained the company’s reasoning at length in a separate piece.
It’s Not Just Google Maps
The decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America — or in some cases the “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)” — follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, which also declared Feb. 9 as Gulf of America Day.
While Google was the first one to action the change on Maps, Apple and Microsoft have subsequently also fallen in line, renaming the Gulf of Mexico on Apple Maps and Bing, respectively.
The response by Apple Maps users hasn’t been as vocal, but that might have to do with the fact that Google Maps is a vastly more popular service. Even yet, there are a handful of comments and threads on Reddit calling for users to report the name change as inaccurate.
The renaming of the Gulf of Mexico comes on the back of news that Google dropped Pride Month and Black History Month from its holiday list on Calendar, though a spokesperson has since clarified the removal took place in 2024.
Paired with the Gulf of America renaming on Maps, people are now accusing Google of kowtowing to government pressure.
Update: Feb. 12, 04:47 a.m. EST: This article has been edited to include a clarification from a Google spokesperson.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content
