Earlier this year, after presumably solving every other more urgent problem facing American citizens, President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. This move has very little meaning internationally, but American companies are already falling in lockstep with the order — and getting tired of anyone who tries to correct it back to the old name. Google Maps users have been leaving reviews for the Gulf of America, demanding it be changed back to the Gulf of Mexico, and Google has responded by eliminating reviews for the body of water altogether.
The “Gulf of America” name is only primary on Google Maps in the U.S. — according to India Today, the name appears as a parenthetical beneath “Gulf of Mexico” in most of the world except for Mexico, where it simply doesn’t appear. Americans, who overwhelmingly oppose the renaming effort, have been the users negatively reviewing the Gulf in hopes of a reversal. From the BBC:
Clicking on the label for the Gulf in Google Maps now brings up a note saying “posting is currently turned off”.
Google also appears to have deleted some negative reviews left in the wake of its name change.
The company has defended its decision, saying in a statement it “regularly puts 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.”
It also highlighted a 2023 blog post about how it tackles “policy-violating content”, such as fake reviews, and the when it disables contributions or removes content to prevent abuse of its tools.
Users on social media claim hundreds of one star reviews have been removed, and have accused Google of “censorship.”
Despite Google’s strict adherence here, the company doesn’t really have to follow the executive order. Names for international locations are a complicated topic politically, and to push any official change to the UN’s Group of Experts on Geological Names — itself more an advisory body than a regulatory one — would require the unanimous agreement of the U.S., Mexico, and Cuba. Given how well we seem to be playing with others right about now, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
