The Conversation (0)
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
As US president Donald Trump continues to celebrate his renaming of Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ with AI slop of combover-sporting geese (yes, really), Google has come under fire for its decision to honour the rebrand on Google Maps.
Trump signed an executive order mandating the change on Thursday, amid a trade dispute with Canada, and after facing an initial backlash for reflecting the change in its product, Google defended its decision in a blog post on Saturday.
The tech company said: “The U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has formally changed the name for ‘Lake Ontario’ to ‘Lake America’ in the United States.
“Since we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources, which is GNIS for the U.S., people using Maps in the U.S. will see ‘Lake America,’ those in Canada will continue to see ‘Lake Ontario,’ and those outside of the U.S. and Canada will see both names.
“These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now.”
But X/Twitter users – some of which have announced a move to rival service MapQuest in protest – weren’t satisfied with Google’s explanation, with independent journalist and policy consultant Adam Cochran branding it “genuinely pathetic”:
Author Stephen Maher commented: “I hope that tomorrow morning the government of Canada will be reviewing its business arrangements with Google. This is a strong symbolic argument for digital sovereignty measures. We need our own cloud”:
California state senator Scott Wiener said: “Google doesn’t have to do this. It’s a choice — and a horrible choice at that”:
Drew Savicki of the research hub American Bridge 21st Century asked: “Google is hiding behind 'the government renamed it' as their excuse. So if Trump decided California was now called 'Poopyland' would Google go along with that too?”:
“I’m not a canadian but that is one of the most honorless move I have ever seen. U must be ashamed,” replied one user:
Technology reviewer JerryRigEverything said: “Such a waste of your time to even capitulate to the orange baby”:
And some even responded with screen recordings of them removing the Google Maps app from their phones:
It’s not the first time that Google has found itself in hot water over changes to its map, as it also honoured Trump’s rebrand of the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America’ last year – a move which saw it sued by Mexico.
Why not read…?
- Trump reposts bizarre Lake America AI slop renaming Canada Geese to 'Donald ducks'
- Nasa scientists praised for ‘masterclass’ reaction to Trump speech
Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.