Expertise reporter
Getty PhotographsGoogle Maps has blocked evaluations for the Gulf of Mexico, after criticism of its resolution to label it “Gulf of America” for customers within the US.
The tech large up to date the identify of the situation on Wednesday after President Donald Trump ordered it to be modified in official authorities paperwork.
Clicking on the label for the Gulf in Google Maps now brings up a word saying “posting is at the moment turned off”.
Google additionally seems to have deleted some unfavourable evaluations left within the wake of its identify change.
The corporate has defended its resolution, saying in an announcement it “commonly places protections on locations throughout occasions after we anticipate an uptick of contributions which can be off-topic or unrelated to somebody’s direct expertise with the place.”
It additionally highlighted a 2023 weblog put up about the way it tackles “policy-violating content material”, similar to faux evaluations, and the when it disables contributions or removes content material to stop abuse of its instruments.
Customers on social media declare lots of of 1 star evaluations have been eliminated, and have accused Google of “censorship.”
The latest overview left for the situation consequence on Google Maps now seems to be from a month in the past.
So-called “review-bombing” has change into a well-liked type of on-line protest towards corporations or companies that seem in Google Search or Maps outcomes.
In December, Google eliminated derogatory evaluations of a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania the place Luigi Mangione – the 26-year-old since charged with the homicide of United Healthcare boss Brian Thompson – had been arrested.
The tactic has additionally been deployed to control an app’s rankings on cellular marketplaces.
In 2020, individuals used it to criticise President Trump’s then-proposal to ban TikTok – reportedly leaving lots of of important evaluations on his re-election marketing campaign app on Apple’s App Retailer.
It was additionally utilized by GameStop merchants to hit again at stock-trading apps similar to Robinhood that launched buying and selling restrictions amid the 2021 market upset.
Forbes reported on Thursday that the corporate had “tacitly admitted” to eradicating evaluations criticising the Gulf location’s renaming on Maps.
The BBC has requested Google to substantiate whether or not it has deleted them.
It comes after Google stated in a weblog put up on Monday that US customers would see “Gulf of America” change Gulf of Mexico on Maps.
It stated this adopted a “longstanding coverage” of reflecting identify modifications up to date in official US authorities sources.
The identify would stay unchanged in Mexico and the remainder of the world would see “Gulf of America” added subsequent to its present identify in brackets, Google added.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote a letter to the corporate asking them to not rename the Gulf in a letter in late January.
In the meantime, Apple has additionally modified the identify for US customers of its personal Maps app.
The White Home highlighted it in a put up on X (previously Twitter) on Wednesday – with a picture of Apple Maps displaying “Gulf of America” as a substitute of Gulf of Mexico.
Huge tech companies and their chief executives have been accused of attempting to “curry favour” with the Trump administration by means of controversial coverage modifications.
Meta introduced it will ditch US fact-checkers and a few international content material insurance policies in January, and later joined a slew of companies together with Google and Amazon in scaling again range recruitment targets.
