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.

  • ChapulinColorado@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2251·
    5 days ago

    Why bother with this? If you want to make a point, pass regulation in Mexico to call E.E.U.U. (US in Mexico) be called Northern Mexico. Then Google is forced to comply on that territory like they claim they do for disputed sections when maps are viewed from that region. It would make for some funny reactions from people visiting Cancun or Puerto Vallarta.

    Edit: plus it would show how stupid the whole rename thing is to begin with.

    • billwashere@lemmy.worldEnglish
      184·
      5 days ago

      TIL…

      The abbreviation E.E.U.U. (often written as EE. UU.) stands for Estados Unidos (United States) in Spanish. This abbreviation follows a grammatical rule in Spanish where doubling the initial letters of each word indicates plurality

      So you taught me something today I did not know. Thank you!!

      • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.worldEnglish
        12·
        5 days ago

        Interestingly (or not) it’s also used in French but only in one case that I’m aware of. Monsieur is abbreviated to M. while messieurs (plural) is MM.

      • Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        4 days ago

        See, I learned this in Spanish class in my American high school, and I don’t think that linguistic fact stuck with me! Thanks

      • lolrightythen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        5 days ago

        Just let our mexican and Canadian neighbors take over the USA. We’ve proven to be unworthy of making wise choices.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.ukEnglish
        31·
        5 days ago

        Wait what do they call the European Union then because that’s still EU in Spanish as well.

        • Jrockwar@feddit.ukEnglish
          20·
          5 days ago

          It’s UE in Spanish, from Unión Europea. (Non-doubled letters because it’s a single Union, there’s no plural like in “States”).

          Sometimes people in Spain do use the English acronyms for both EU/USA, but I don’t think I’ve seen it often. Both UE and EEUU are more common from what I’ve seen, and also people rarely say these out loud, it’s exclusively a written language problem.

    • TeamAssimilation@infosec.pubEnglish
      161·
      5 days ago

      If we’re going to play that demagogic game, why not make “United States of America” be shown as “United States of North America” to reclaim the continent name back? Companies will comply if it’s an official request.

    • WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2·
      5 days ago

      Currently in Mexico, it displays the name your phone region is set to. It still shows Gulf of America on my phone, even when I am on Mexican WiFi.

    • 13roses@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      5 days ago

      Google is one of many propaganda arms of the US govt. I highly doubt they’d comply with that as it doesn’t fit in with their political agenda.