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.

  • lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    14·
    5 days ago

    What else do people expect them to do?

    1.- Refuse-

    2.- Apply only the part of the name change that’s actually covered by US jurisdiction. The Gulf of Mexico extends noticeably beyond US’s borders.

    But hey this is Google we’re talking about.

    Besides, it still say Gulf of Mexico if you’re outside the USA.

    If I’m a eg.: Colombian, it should be “Gulf of Mexico” “Golfo de México” wherever I stand, not “Gulf of America”.

    • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      5 days ago

      Apply only the part of the name change that’s actually covered by US jurisdiction.

      Strictly speaking, per the EO, this is what they should have done. The EO defines the area to be renamed as:

      the U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba in the area formerly named as the Gulf of Mexico

      You can see exactly where that seaward boundary is on this map: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_ECS_Regions_2023.png

      The area described is less than half the whole Gulf of Mexico.

      • lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        4·
        5 days ago

        Doesn’t need to (but yeah yeah they’re Google, I know…). They just should name it “Gulf of México” or whatever the translated name is to the user’s device, and add an asterisk somewhere that shows a note to the effect of “a small fraction of Confederate remnants think it should be called ‘Gulf of America’”.

        • Ilovethebomb@lemm.eeEnglish
          32·
          5 days ago

          That is essentially what they’ve done by putting Gulf of America in brackets behind the original name.

          • NotSteve_@lemmy.caEnglish
            4·
            5 days ago

            But why? Why should any other country care about the US’s ridiculous internal politics