Expertise reporter
Getty PhotographsGoogle Maps has blocked critiques for the Gulf of Mexico, after criticism of its determination to label it “Gulf of America” for customers within the US.
The tech large updated the name of the location 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 notice saying “posting is at present turned off”.
Google additionally seems to have deleted some detrimental critiques left within the wake of its identify change.
The corporate has defended its determination, saying in an announcement it “repeatedly places protections on locations throughout instances once we anticipate an uptick of contributions which might be off-topic or unrelated to somebody’s direct expertise with the place.”
It additionally highlighted a 2023 blog post about the way it tackles “policy-violating content material”, akin to faux critiques, and the when it disables contributions or removes content material to stop abuse of its instruments.
Customers on social media claim hundreds of one star reviews have been eliminated, and have accused Google of “censorship.”
The newest assessment left for the location result on Google Maps now seems to be from a month in the past.
So-called “review-bombing” has develop into a preferred type of on-line protest towards corporations or companies that seem in Google Search or Maps outcomes.
In December, Google removed derogatory reviews 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 govern an app’s rankings on cellular marketplaces.
In 2020, folks used it to criticise President Trump’s then-proposal to ban TikTok – reportedly leaving hundreds of critical reviews 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 akin 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 critiques criticising the Gulf location’s renaming on Maps.
The BBC has requested Google to verify whether or not it has deleted them.
It comes after Google mentioned in a blog post on Monday that US customers would see “Gulf of America” exchange Gulf of Mexico on Maps.
It mentioned 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 company 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” instead of Gulf of Mexico.
Huge tech companies and their chief executives have been accused of attempting to “curry favour” with the Trump administration via 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 back diversity recruitment goals.
