Earlier this month, when Donald Trump called for renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” it was fair to assume he was just trying to grab headlines in his own bizarre way. But then on his first day in office, he signed an executive order making it official. And now Google is bending the knee.
On Monday, the tech giant announced its Google Maps service would use “Gulf of America” for users in the U.S.. However, users in Mexico will see “Gulf of Mexico,” and the rest of its 1 billion monthly users will see both names.
“When official names vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name,” Google posted on X. “Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names.”
This isn’t the first time Big Tech has sided with Trump since his victory in last November’s presidential election.
In the weeks leading up to his second term, major tech companies—including Apple, Microsoft, and Google—or their CEOs donated millions to his inauguration. Many even flew to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to kiss the ring. Then, on Jan. 20, a handful of them stood among far-right influencers and podcast bros to applaud Trump’s inauguration in person.
Worse, Google isn’t the only tech giant to alter its services following Trump’s election. Facebook, whose CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed he was “optimistic and celebrating” Trump’s inauguration, quietly scaled back its fact-checking efforts.
Another problem is how consolidated power is in the tech sector. Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta (Facebook’s parent company), and X (formerly Twitter) control a vast amount of the news and information that Americans consume. With each new decision to pander to political interests or suppress uncomfortable truths, these companies grow more powerful, allowing them to further shape public discourse in ways that should concern us all.
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