Google faced blowback on social media Monday after it announced it would comply with President Donald Trump ’s executive order and ― on its Google Maps service ― rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” and revert to referring to Alaska’s Denali as Mount McKinley.
Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday mocked Google ’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” on its Google Maps service, in compliance with President Donald Trump ’s executive order. The online platform’s move has drawn condemnation from Trump critics who suggest the company is pandering to him.
Google said it would rename the body of water to “Gulf of America” after it is updated in the U.S. government system in response to Trump’s executive order.
While Trump's order alters the U.S. government's official position regarding the Gulf of Mexico and Denali's names, it does not specifically direct companies to follow suit. Even so, Google confirmed that its Maps app will be renaming the Gulf of Mexico and Denali in an X post on Monday.
Google Maps users in the U.S. can expect to see “the Gulf of America” in place of “the Gulf of Mexico” and “Mount McKinley” instead of “Denali” on the map, in line with President Donald Trump’s executive order of last week.
In compliance with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, Google Maps will change the name of Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum shared a letter to Google, arguing that the tech giant should follow rules set by the U.N. that relate to naming bodies of water instead of following Donald Trump's executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
This comes after President Trump signed an executive order on Inauguration Day that ordered the name Mt. McKinley be reinstated and the Gulf of Mexico be renamed.
On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico and Mount Denali, stating that the “naming of our national treasures, including breathtaking natural wonders and historic works of art, should honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans in our Nation’s rich past.”
Google is capitulating to Donald Trump and will show US Google Map users the Gulf of America on maps after Trump signed an executive order.
The tech giant revealed the reasons behind the proposed changes on social media after receiving questions from users.