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.

    • AJ1English
      6·
      9 hours ago

      it really sucks when you realise that virtually everything is a US company… and yet everything they sell is made in fucking China

    • LMurch@thelemmy.clubEnglish
      151·
      16 hours ago

      My phone is a Pixel on Google Fi, and I have a YouTube premium account. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me :( lol

    • viking@infosec.pubEnglish
      17·
      16 hours ago

      Nah. I’ll start boycotting google when there are useful alternatives. Amazon, facebook, reddit - no problem.

      Google search - fine, I can get by with DDG or Yandex. Gmail - sure, whatever. Maps? Organic Maps (and other openstreetmaps front-ends) works alright for getting your bearings, but it’s a far cry from useful for finding businesses, and terrible for navigation. Waze used to be the only viable alternative, but ever since Google bought them, it’s hard to justify a full boycott without massively inconveniencing myself.

      Same for meta as a whole. Facebook and Instagram, sure, no need. But living without whatsapp is simply impossible in some countries, where it’s the de-facto standard for communication, and even used as the only means of contact with government agencies.

      • aeshna_cyanea@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        1 hour ago

        If you disapprove of internet companies caving to authoritarian politics, I have bad news for you about Yandex

      • TWB0109@lemmy.oneEnglish
        3·
        10 hours ago

        Fr, I try, but it’s really not possible to get away from these companies.

        Nobody wants signal, nobody wants mastodon, nobody wants or frankly can use openstreetmaps. Alternatives are just not good enough

        • Victor@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          9 hours ago

          Alternatives are just not good enough

          And to no fault of their own of course. They just aren’t working with the same resources as Google and the others.

          I think it’s more a question of stepping down our level of comfort at this point. Can we live without a particular service that Google provides, when there are no alternatives with feature parity? Or can we live with the fact that some of the features aren’t working as well or missing, and use the alternatives anyway?