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Google caught in crossfire over gulf name change

Google is back in the crosshairs of a geopolitical battle over President Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, raising fresh questions over the role technology companies can play in reinforcing political narratives.

© Jeff Chiu, Associated Press file

The company’s decision to follow Trump’s order on Google Maps quickly sparked backlash from Mexico, where leaders are now threatening legal action against the company.

While this is not the first time since Google faced disputes over its geographical name changes, experts say this opens a Pandora’s box of questions about how major tech companies help shape global narratives.

“Google, along with the other major platforms, wield enormous influence in how people perceive geography, history and political realities,” said Tobias Feakin, Australia’s former inaugural ambassador for cyber affairs and critical technology.

“What appears on a map isn’t just data, it shapes global narratives. When Google changes a name, it effectively validates a political stance, even if unintentionally,” he continued.

Shortly after Trump’s executive order to rename the body of water, the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) made the change official, prompting Google Maps to follow suit for U.S. users.

Apple Maps and Bing Maps also updated their systems to align with the change.

Google maintains it has a long-standing practice of applying name changes when they are updated in official government sources, as the GNIS did. In a case where official names vary between nations, users will see their official local names, according to Google’s policy.

Quickly resisting the change, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has threatened to file suit against Google, arguing Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf applied only to the area of the continental shelf under U.S. control.

The backlash against Google comes as technology companies continue to become more influential in broader society. With this growing power comes a larger role in geopolitics, or the ways geography impacts politics and foreign relations.

“Tech companies are no longer just participants in geopolitics, they are shaping it,” said Feakin, whose research examines geopolitics and its intersection with advanced and emerging technologies.

Read more in a full report at TheHill.com

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