Washington, D.C: Tech giant Google has disabled reviews for the Gulf of Mexico on its Maps platform following widespread backlash over its decision to rename the body of water “Gulf of America” for U.S. users.
The move follows an executive order by President Donald Trump, mandating the change in official government documents, which has drawn accusations of historical revisionism and corporate acquiescence to political pressure.
Users initially noticed the name alteration on Wednesday, prompting a surge in negative reviews and online protests. Many accused Google of rewriting geographical history, while others engaged in review bombing, a tactic where users leave mass one-star ratings as a form of digital protest.
“Some types of places are more likely to receive posts, like reviews, that violate Google’s policies,” the label added to the Gulf result states, according to a report by BBC.
“To prevent this, Google has turned off posting.” The most recent review left for the location result on Google Maps now appears to be from a month ago.
Some users are claiming on social media that negative reviews they posted to object to the change have been removed, and have accused Google of “censorship.”
Google’s justification for the name change hinges on its longstanding policy of updating geographical names based on official U.S. government sources. While U.S. users now see “Gulf of America”, the original name remains for Mexican users and in the rest of the world, the Gulf appears with both names side by side in brackets.
Meanwhile, Apple has also changed the name for US users of its own Maps app.
The White House highlighted it in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday – with an image of Apple Maps displaying “Gulf of America” instead of Gulf of Mexico.
Big tech firms and their chief executives have been accused of trying to “curry favour” with the Trump administration through controversial policy changes.
In response to the renaming, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote a letter to the company, urging them to restore the Gulf’s original nomenclature. Sheinbaum has emphasised the historical, geopolitical and cultural significance of the name. Google is yet to respond officially. UNI
