BREAKING: Call for a Boycott of Google Maps Goes Viral Over “Lake America” Rename
Google Maps caved to Trump’s order renaming Lake Ontario. Now a growing call online is pushing back where Google actually has to listen: its user base.
The argument lays out exactly how we got here. Trump’s executive order 14420, signed August 27, compelled the U.S. Geological Survey to change Lake Ontario’s designation in its official Geographic Names Information System. Two days later, Google announced it would update Maps to match, citing its policy of reflecting “name changes in official governmental sources.”
This isn’t new. The same thing happened last year with the Gulf of Mexico rename, and it went largely unchallenged, except by Mexico.
This time, the pushback is aimed squarely at Google itself. Google is not a federal entity and had no legal obligation to adhere to the executive order the way a government agency does. The argument is simple: citizens can’t do much to fight a presidential executive order, but they can absolutely choose which map app sits on their phone.
“I love Google Maps. I have countless places saved in the application, some very personal and meaningful,” one post read. “But I have chosen to delete the Google Maps application from my phone until the company chooses to stand up to political abuse of our national geography.”
Google didn’t have to comply. It chose to. Now it’s finding out that choice comes with a cost measured in app deletions.