Summary
Google has reclassified the U.S. as a “sensitive country” following Trump’s announcement to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” and Mount Denali as Mount McKinley.
The designation, typically reserved for nations with border disputes or strict governments, reflects the growing challenges tech companies face under Trump’s second term.
Google Maps has prioritized updating these name changes, treating them similarly to disputed regions like the Persian Gulf.
The reclassification may impact how Google handles U.S. geographic labels moving forward.
I would typically roll my eyes at something like this, but in less than two weeks Trump has taken great strides towards destroying the federal civil service, any semblance of a rules-based international order and our relationships abroad, while doing everything but publicly endorsing violence against his political opponents.
Would that mean we, as a country, are now snowflakes? 😅
So much for ending woke culture
Turns out Republicans were the true soy boys
Make america soy again 😂
He ruined the song!
We fired our guns and the British kept a-comin’
There wasn’t as many as there was a while ago
We fired once more and they began to runnin’
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of America
I’m going to start calling it the Gulf of Cuba.
Osmand+ still safe
May be an unpopular opinion, but Google is right! It may also be that I’ve only read the headlines and am totally off-base, but ….
It’s not google’s business to decide what to call things, nor would they want any controversies attached to it. Every country and internationally has data with what they want to call things. It’s their right to do so, even snowflake countries trying to erase cultures and history. It’s in Google’s best interest to implement exactly what those official data sources call things, presumably those have gone through whatever due process exists, without regard to what they think is right or wrong. If there’s evidence of the country being a special snowflake, or launching a flurry of changes, it’s in Googles interest to implement those changes more quickly, but NOT to take matters into their own hands
Your comment reminded me of how Hollywood would remove Jewish actors from their films because they didn’t want to stand up to the nazis.
Hollywood’s decision to accommodate Nazi demands during the 1930s was driven by economic interests, particularly the desire to maintain access to Germany, then a significant film market. Studios made concessions, such as removing Jewish characters and avoiding anti-Nazi themes, to avoid being banned in Germany[1][3][6]. Despite many Jewish studio heads, profit motives often outweighed moral considerations[3][4]. However, this collaboration remains controversial, as it involved suppressing anti-Nazi content and sidelining Jewish actors during a time of rising persecution[6][8].
Citations: [1] The Chilling History of How Hollywood Helped Hitler (Exclusive) https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/how-hollywood-helped-hitler-595684/ [2] When the Nazis Seized Power, This Jewish Actor Took on the Role … https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-nazis-seized-power-this-jewish-actor-took-on-role-life-180985228/ [3] Did Hollywood studios help the Nazis? - BBC https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20130930-did-hollywood-help-the-nazis [4] The Myth of Jewish Hollywood’s Collaboration With the Nazis https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/jewish-hollywood-collaboration [5] Fleeing the Nazis for a haven in Hollywood - Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jan-03-et-hitlerhollywood3-story.html [6] [PDF] The Collaboration of American Movie Studios with Nazi Germany By … https://escholarship.org/content/qt97m7w0gs/qt97m7w0gs_noSplash_a6f7eff117f760f718ff016c0ab5c1bc.pdf [7] The Emigration of Filmmakers Under National-Socialism | filmportal.de https://www.filmportal.de/en/topic/the-emigration-of-filmmakers-under-national-socialism [8] Hitler’s Willing Hollywood Collaborators - The Forward https://forward.com/culture/186509/hitlers-willing-hollywood-collaborators/ [9] Jews who fled the Nazis to make films in Hollywood https://jweekly.com/2014/11/27/jews-who-fled-the-nazis-to-make-films-in-hollywood/ [10] Jews in American cinema - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews_in_the_history_of_American_film
This is far different than choosing to filter themselves for appeasement. This is deciding to work with international standards and laws, and to stick with it as the best course even if they have an opinion. This is a business of publishing facts and Google should not be the arbiter of the facts
I agree, I don’t want Google deciding place names for anything. We already have processes and organizations that do that. My government may be getting more dysfunctional every day but it is their role
While I oppose these naming changes out of personal spite , oppose that it didn’t respect locals, oppose that it overrode Congress, oppose that it was done outside the law, it would be even worse if Google were part of the decision process. For better or worse there is a legal name and Google should just use whatever it is
This reminds of how when the unicode consortium had to add flag emojis, instead of opening the can of worms on what countries are independent or not, they just noped out of it and let the implementers decide which combinations of regional indicator letters render as country flags.
That’s very interesting. Do you know where I could learn more about that decision? I tried searching but its 2025 and any phrases I could think of just returned websites offering nearly identical collections of flag emojis…
From Wikipedia:
These were defined by October 2010 as part of the Unicode 6.0 support for emoji, as an alternative to encoding separate characters for each country flag. Although they can be displayed as Roman letters, it is intended that implementations may choose to display them in other ways, such as by using national flags. The Unicode FAQ indicates that this mechanism should be used and that symbols for national flags will not be directly encoded.
I don’t think you’ll be able to find a source that specifically says “yeah, they did this to avoid having to make a decision about which countries are important/independent enough to have flags”, but like… why else would they go with this more complicated system over just defining separate codepoints for each flag?
This is probably a good starting point.
Edit: I found this by digging through the emoji Wikipedia page sources
Thank you!
Is that why there are some flag emoji (like the Taiwan/ROC flag) that don’t render on certain devices?
You don’t have to be polite Google. The more proper term is ‘snowflake country’… our government has the absolute thinnest skin.
“Snowflake” is still pretty polite. But “pussy” is politically incorrect. There’s probably a better word out there.
Wankers. The US government and “conservative” local governments are full of wankers. Ratty, unwashed cum socks are more pleasant to deal with.
If the president doesn’t shy away from using a politically incorrect word like that, then I find it entirely justified to use the same term when talking about him and the country he represents.
Trumpussy.
You mean that waddle formation under his chin?
I just wanted to show off with my knowledge about the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year 2022.
Gross.
It’s a baby dictator, not a snowflake.
We 'meric’ns prefer “global warming denialism proof-crystals”
Looks like Snowstorm 2025 is going to keep blowing over the continental United States until 2028
Only metaphorically. The snow where it should be, doesn’t exist. This year alone, Florida has way more snow than Iowa. If that’s not an indicator, I don’t know what is.
lmao
Brilliant
Once again, Australia has it right.
Shidded on hard.
NOAA government nautical chart from today:
The executive order gave something like 3 months for the secretary of interior to rename it. Trump’s guy hasnt been confirmed as secretary of interior.
Snitches get stitches.
I am now lost.
You’re clearly in the gulf of amexicalifornmerica.
I’ve heard good things, I’ve always wanted to visit the Taco Bell region of Amexicalifornmerica.
Everything will be Canada one day
The USA, Russia, China… birds of a feather
Colonialize together?
There’s a sensitivity rating on google?
They manage maps. Maps are extremely political
Meanwhile, Google Maps shows Gulf of America now… So, take it with a grain of crack.
It only does it in the country, as a Canadian I still see gulf of Mexico.
That’s the whole point of this sensitive designation
I am in the US and still see Gulf of Mexico.
I would actually love if for the next 4 years they just got busy only remaining places on map and nothing else.
Sadly much more damaging stuff is happening and this is just another distraction.
Renaming shit on maps is part of erasing that a people ever existed there at all. The towns in Poland my family came from aren’t on any maps any more. Their names exist only in stories passed down to me, and to a few people who also received them still living where those towns used to be. That I didn’t even know for 33 years where to find the towns in my great great grandmother’s stories was exactly the aim of the ethnic cleansing that brought her here.
I get that it seems silly and ridiculous and like a big distraction to a lot of people, and on some level, yes, that is the point of renaming shit on maps when you’re just going to do the killings anyway, but also… The point is the killings, and when a big authoritarian dickhead shows up saying he wants to rename shit on a map? Freak the fuck out. This dude plans to kill.
It’s funny how people think it will be 4 years. This shit will not be over in 4 years.
Republicans are already proposing removing thw term limit on presidents, whole somehow claiming that won’t allow Obama to run again.
Pourquoi n’est-il pas correctement étiqueté? C’est le Golfe du Québec!
If the Bloc runs on that platform, I’d vote for them from Ontario.
They’re only going to show that in the US.
Thw rest of the world will still see the original and internationally agreed on name.
If it was an internal waterway, the Americans could rename it whatever they want and everyone else would happily go along with it.
But, since the Gulf of Mexico is partially international waters, and since it has shores on multiple other countries, the US doesn’t get to unilaterally decide what everyone else calls it.
I live in the US in a very red state and mine still shows “Gulf of Mexico”
Hilarious … Google has placed baby bumpers for Americans on Google Maps
Careful sweetie, you might hurt yourself
take it with a grain of crack.
That DOES seem to make keeping up with the news more fun 🤔
Instructions unclear.
I threw out my phone and started climbing up the side of the building
It’s still correctly labeled as Gulf of Mexico on my Google maps
You FUCKING COWARDS.
What the hell happened, man.
I get why you have to do it with China. You need to move on with your life, and you’re going to be caught up in endless ridiculous squabbles, and life is short.
You KNOW you don’t actually have to do it for Trump.
You’re just deciding to. It’s like in the movie, “How in the WORLD could this guy take the money, when he knows it’s wrong.”
Why in the world, man. What happened.
They operate in his jurisdiction.
International mega corps are arguably more powerful than the federal government. Theyve gone with the government solely because it benefits them at the moment… They think. This hard-line bullshit only benefits the corporations and mega rich. But what’s coming is a collapse of power, money and interests. America is collapsing in front of our eyes, it’s time to move on from trying to preserve what was, and work on removing threats and rebuilding. The mindset is what needs to change.
No argument there.
No they don’t. They operate in the United States government’s jurisdiction.
I know that Trump thinks that a consequence of that is that he can simply order them to do whatever he wants, and they have to do it, but that’s not true. Or, it’s only true to the extent that people around him start to see it that way, and act on it, and start to punish people who don’t do whatever he says, regardless of what the law or the rest of the United States government which is considerable has to say about it.
That’s one reason I think they’re cowards. Because the more that people start to mutually believe that everything Trump says, is law, the more other people will agree to it and start to act on it as if it’s the same way. We made all this up. We pretend there’s a “constitution” that means something, we pretend “congress” is something special, not just a bunch of old guys in a building who write weird incomprehensible documents, we pretend it all means something, when at the end of the day it’s just a bunch of monkeys who run around making special noises.
And we can start to pretend Trump is king, too, if we want to. I don’t want to, and I get irritated at people who start pretending that he is. That shit’s contagious.
I think bowing to China made them bigger cowards tbh
I mean, are you accusing me of changing the name? I’m not sure who you’re yelling at here. I’m as mortified as the next sane person.
Sorry! I was talking to Google, not to you, I have no issue with you at all. I should have phrased it in a more clear fashion. I’m just irritated, that’s all.
No sweat. I get now. I have been randomly screaming into void myself since he was elected.
(For anyone curious, I just did this, and it still shows as Gulf of Mexico for me)
Only for the United States, I still see “Gulf of Mexico” in Australia
I’m in the US and just updated Google Maps and it still shows the correct name.
At least try not to talk out of your ass
Maybe if Google spent more time developing Gemini rather than renaming bodies of water they’d have a better product than the cheaper, more open DeepSeek.
LLMs are snake oil. All of them.
