Mexican President Threatens to Sue Google Over 'Gulf of America' Label on Maps | Common Dreams
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Mexican President urges Google to reconsider renaming the Gulf of Mexico to 'Gulf of America' on its maps feature at Trump's demand, and threatens legal action.

The president of Mexico on Thursday expressed hope that Google “reconsiders” its decision to change its online maps to reflect U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that he has the authority to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico.

Shortly after taking office, Trump issued an executive order announcing he was changing the name of the body of water to the Gulf of America.

For U.S. users of Google Maps, the gulf was listed as the Gulf of America as of Thursday. Google, whose CEO attended Trump’s inauguration along with other tech moguls, said last month it has “a long-standing practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.”

But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum warned Thursday that her government “will file a civil suit” against Google if it does not revert back to labeling the international body of water the Gulf of Mexico.

  • @[email protected]English
    2•6 days ago

    I think Google and Apple should call it whatever the official names are, not to take any sort of political stance.

    • @brucethemooseEnglish
      2•6 days ago

      Then why add “Gulf of America” in countries that do not recognize the name?

      • @[email protected]English
        -3•6 days ago

        In case you have forgotten, Google is an American company, every one of their decisions is taken in California. Maybe calling everything you don’t agree “fascist” isn’t a smart idea, since it shows that you have no idea what the meaning of that word is.

        • @brucethemooseEnglish
          2•6 days ago

          That is not what I asked.

          OK, let’s reverse it, and say Mexico renamed the Gulf to something else. What do you think Google should do, inside Mexico and out?

          • @[email protected]English
            -2•6 days ago

            Inside Mexico they should name it whatever the Mexico calls it. Outside Mexico it should be called however it is called in the respective country.

            But again, Google is based in the US, all their decisions are made there.

            • @MellowYellow13English
              4•6 days ago

              Yeah and its called Gulf of Mexico outside Mexico. Learning is hard

            • @brucethemooseEnglish
              3•6 days ago

              Yes, and in that case Google is taking a political stance by choosing to label “Gulf of America” outside the US.

              If Google was based in Mexico and a similar thing happened, people in the US would be utterly outraged over politicizing geography. And it would be quite obvious they are signaling cooperation to the Mexican government.

            • Flying SquidEnglish
              1•6 days ago

              I’m outside the U.S. and Mexico. This is what I see.

              Incidentally, that is also what Mexicans see.

              Trump and Google have decided that the whole world has to acknowledge Trump’s unilateral declaration.

    • Flying SquidEnglish
      1•6 days ago

      The official name is the Gulf of Mexico. It doesn’t become a different name just because Trump declares it. It isn’t up to him.