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.

  • badbytes@lemmy.world
    English
    7·
    1 year ago

    Don’t know, but countries do provide a check/balance. Look at how Brazil twisted twitters arm and forced change. If our govt won’t, glad another one stepped up to the challenge.

  • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.catEnglish
    93·
    1 year ago

    WTF

    Two stupids don’t make a smart.

    The government doesn’t control the language, it doesn’t control the encyclopedia. Behaving like it does (in either direction) is a surprisingly dangerous activity to normalize.

      • Zorque@lemmy.worldEnglish
        410·
        1 year ago

        It’s referred to as Gulf of Mexico in Mexico. Elsewhere it’s referred to either Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) or Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico).

        They didn’t rename it for everyone, just for those living in jurisdictions falling under Car Salesman in Chief.

          • Zorque@lemmy.worldEnglish
            41·
            1 year ago

            Google is dictating “This is how it’s referred to by one of the two countries encompassing the gulf”. Is it dumb as fuck? Sure. But they’re not deciding that people should be using it, only that in official terms, that is one of the names.

            That doesn’t mean you have to like it, or that it shouldn’t be fought against… but it’s not like they’re some malevolent actor trying to get one over on the righteous hero either.

        • FabledAepitaph@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          You’re missing the entire point. What Trump did was petty af. Petty shit deserves to get smacked down from every possible angle. If more people stood up on principle like my new Mexican crush here, maybe they’d think twice before issuing their bullshit.

    • Ledivin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Who does, then? Google? Can they just change all the names to whatever they want? They’re big enough that I bet most of them would slowly catch on and become vernacular