Google has deleted and blocked negative user reviews on Google Maps of the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
According to Forbes, a Google spokesperson “tacitly admitted” that the company pulls user activity deemed to be in violation of standard policy.
On Monday, Google announced that Google Map users in the U.S. would see the name change following an executive order by President Donald Trump in January.
Google Map users quickly became upset with the name change and voiced their displeasure by leaving mass negative reviews or review-bombing.
“We regularly put protections on places during times when we anticipate an uptick of contributions that are off-topic or unrelated to someone’s direct experience with the place,” the spokesperson told Forbes.
According to the BBC, users left one star reviews for the gulf and informed Google that the Gulf of America was misspelled.
Google is used to this activity because review-bombing is often a tactic used to be critical of a business or industry by leaving bad reviews on online platforms.
The company made the name change after the Geographic Names Information System updated the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Google said it has a policy of changing names based on updates given by official government sources.
However, the critics of the decision do not just include online reviewers.
On Thursday, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum threatened a civil lawsuit against Google over the gulf renaming, according to the Associated Press.
Sheinbaum said that although Trump’s order only included the,“ continental shelf of the United States”, Google Maps renamed the entire body of water Gulf of America.
Mexico has sovereignty over its own continental shelf of the gulf, Sheinbaum stated.
Sheinbaum previously sent a letter to Google voicing opposition to the name change before it was enacted on Google Map.
It is currently unclear where such a lawsuit would be filed if Mexico follows through.
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Publish date : 2025-02-14 04:37:00
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