Google caught in crossfire over Gulf of America name change

The Hill

20-02-2025

Google has found itself 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.
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.
Those in the U.S. now only see the label 'Gulf of America' on the map, while users in Mexico see the name as the 'Gulf of Mexico,' and those elsewhere in the world will see 'Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).'
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.
Sheinbaum on Monday suggested Google's move violated her country's sovereignty, but said she will wait until she gets another response from the tech company before moving forward with a suit.
'What Google is doing here is changing the name of the continental shelf of Mexico and Cuba, which has nothing to do with Trump's decree, which applied only to the U.S. continental shelf,' Sheinbaum told reporters Monday.
Trump's order, titled 'Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness,' 'only changed the name within his own continental shelf,' she added.
According to Sovereign Limits, a database of international boundaries, the U.S. has control over about 46 percent of the Gulf, while Mexico controls about 49 percent and Cuba about 5 percent.
When asked about Sheinbaum's claim, a White House official pointed The Hill to the order's text, which states the Gulf of America label applies to 'the U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba in the area formerly named as the Gulf of Mexico.'
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.
'The fact that a U.S. government decision was quickly reflected in Google's mapping services raises questions about digital sovereignty, particularly for countries like Mexico that contest the change,' he added.
Digital sovereignty refers to how a nation or region yields control over its digital infrastructure and technology.
Google, a global company, has found itself at a crossroads as it tries to balance the competing interests of various nations.
Lowell Gustafson, a political science professor with a focus on Latin America, emphasized Google, at the end of the day, is still a business that needs to keep its financial interests in mind.
'They're protecting themselves. So, if I was given the power of being in charge of Google, what would I do in their circumstance? Would I endanger my own corporation, and what hill am I going to die on? What battle am I going to choose to fight?' he said. 'I think if I was in their spot, I would say this is a battle to fight another day. Trump won't be here forever.'
The California-based company has tried to shield itself by deferring to official government definitions, but experts said this does not prevent questions from arising over what or whom they could be taking direction from.
'This case highlights a growing dilemma: Are tech companies neutral arbiters of information, or are they extensions of state power?' Feakin said. 'The more governments are realizing the strategic value of digital platforms, the more pressure these companies will face to take sides.'
Google Maps is one of the most used map and navigation platforms, boasting more than 2 billion monthly users around the globe.
The Trump administration has acted against other companies that are not using 'Gulf of America,' most notably The Associated Press, which has been banned from Air Force One and the Oval Office for refusing to use the term on first reference.
The AP's style is to refer to the body of water on first reference as the Gulf of Mexico, because that is what it is called in other countries and is more familiar to many of the AP's readers, it says.
It is not clear whether the Trump administration had any correspondence with Google, Apple or other mapping platforms about the changes.
Nonetheless, it comes amid Silicon Valley's reconciling with Trump after years of tension as companies hope for favorable treatment in his second term.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai was one of several tech leaders to attend Trump's inauguration in a move that was largely perceived as the tech industry's attempts to make headway with the president ahead of his second term.
This is not the first time Google has stared down legal action over its map label choices.
In 2012, Iran threatened to sue Google for not labeling the body of water separating Iran and neighboring Arab Gulf states on its maps platform. Iran called the body of water the Persian Gulf, while Arab countries typically refer to it as the Arabian Gulf.
And in 2014 after Russia's annexation of Crimea, Google Maps in Russia showed Crimea as part of Russian territory, but in Ukraine and other parts of the world, Crimea was shown with no demarcated border between Ukraine and Russia.
When asked whether Google Maps's move with the Gulf could set a precedent moving forward, Feakin expressed concerns other governments may be led to think pressure on tech companies could get them to comply with their preferences.
'The case could set a precedent where governments pressure tech companies to make digital borders and place names to match their geopolitical agendas. It could embolden other governments to push for the further renaming of disputed territories,' he said.
'It could lead to the suppression of historical place names in favor of politically motivated changes and more aggressive state control over digital representations of geography and history.'
Amelia Kiddle, an associate professor of Latin American studies at the University of Calgary, suggested Google's move 'seems quite strange to the rest of the world,' while noting place names frequently change.