How Google Appears to Be Adapting Its Products to the Trump Presidency

Google was among the tech companies that donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration. It’s also among the companies that has pulled back on its internal diversity hiring policies in response to the Trump Administration’s anti-DEI crackdown. And in early February, Google dropped its pledge not to use AI for weapons or surveillance, a move seen as paving the way for closer cooperation with Trump’s government.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Now, users of Google’s consumer products are noticing that a number of updates have been made—seemingly in response to the new administration—to everyday tools like Maps, Calendar, and Search.

Here’s what to know.

Google Maps renames Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America

Among Trump’s first executive orders was a directive to rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America and Alaska’s Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, to its former name Mt. McKinley. Google announced on Jan. 27 that it would “quickly” update its maps accordingly, as soon as the federal Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is updated. On Monday, Feb. 10, following changes around the same time by the Storm Prediction Center and Federal Aviation Administration, Google announced that, in line with its longstanding convention on naming disputed regions, U.S. based users would now see “Gulf of America,” Mexican users will continue to see “Gulf of Mexico,” while users elsewhere will see “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).”

As of Tuesday, Feb. 11, alternatives Apple Maps and OpenStreetMap still show “Gulf of Mexico.”

Google Calendar removes Pride, Black History Month, and other cultural holidays

Last week, some users noticed that Google removed certain default markers from its calendar, including Pride (June), Black History Month (February), Indigenous Peoples Month (November), and Hispanic Heritage Month (mid-September to mid-October). “Dear Google. Stop sucking up to Trump,” reads one comment on a Google Support forum about the noticed changes.

A Google spokesperson confirmed the removal of some holidays and observances to The Verge but said that such changes began in 2024 because “maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable,” explaining that Google Calendar now defers to public holidays and national observances globally listed on timeanddate.com. But not everyone is buying the explanation: “These are lies by Google in order to please the American dictator,” wrote a commenter on another Google Support forum about the changes.

Google Search prohibits autocomplete for ‘impeach Trump’

Earlier this month, social media users also noticed that Google Search no longer suggests an autocomplete for “impeach Trump” when the beginning of the query is typed in the search box, Snopes reported. A Google spokesperson told the fact-checking site that the autocomplete suggestion was removed because the company’s “policies prohibit autocomplete predictions that could be interpreted as a position for or against a political figure. In this case, some predictions were appearing that shouldn’t have been, and we’re taking action to block them.” Google also recently removed predictions for “impeach Biden,” “impeach Clinton,” and others, the spokesperson added, though search results don’t appear to be altered.

Source link