Mexico sues Google over Gulf of America renaming on Maps

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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that Mexico is officially suing Google over a name change on Google Maps. 

The issue is that Google started showing the “Gulf of Mexico” as the “Gulf of America” for users in the US. 

This change was made after the US President Donald Trump ordered it during his time in office. However, Google still kept the original “Gulf of Mexico” name for users in Mexico.

Sheinbaum had already warned Google back in February that Mexico would take legal action if the name wasn’t corrected. (Via: The Verge)

During a press conference on Friday, she explained that only international bodies, not a single country, have the right to name international regions. 

She emphasized that while countries can name their own territories, they can’t change the names of shared areas. 

So, the US can call its section what it wants, but it can’t rename the parts that belong to Mexico or Cuba.

Sheinbaum also shared that Mexico had written letters to Google asking it not to use the “Gulf of America” label for waters that belong to Mexico. 

In response, Google’s VP of government affairs, Cris Turner, said the company didn’t plan to change its naming policy. 

Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would make the name “Gulf of America” official on the US maps.

The Trump administration had pushed hard for the new name. In fact, they even banned the Associated Press from attending White House briefings when the news agency refused to use “Gulf of America” in its reports. 

A judge has since overturned that ban. Google was one of the first tech companies to follow Trump’s order, changing the name on both its app and browser version of Google Maps by February 10th. 

Apple later did the same. However, MapQuest resisted the change and even created a page poking fun at the new name.

Who do you think is in the right here? Does Google deserve consequences for following through with the name change? We want to hear your thoughts below in the comments, or via our Twitter or Facebook.