Sheinbaum May Sue Google Over ‘Gulf of America’ Designation
A Google map, Feb. 2025. X/ @Advil
February 13, 2025 Hour: 12:10 pm
President Trump’s executive order applies only to the continental shelf of the Gulf within the United States.
On Thursday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced a possible civil lawsuit against Google for labeling the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” on its maps.
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The Mexican leader was dissatisfied with the response to a letter she sent on January 30 to the Google CEO Sundar Pichai, in which she requested the correction of the area now erroneously labeled “Gulf of America,” as the name change should only apply to U.S. territory.
“The party we do have a dispute with at the moment is Google. They have already responded to the letter, and we have replied to them again. If necessary, we will proceed with a civil lawsuit. They say that it will be called ‘Gulf of America’ in the United States and ‘Gulf of Mexico’ elsewhere,” Sheinbaum said.
“The company is incorrect because not even President Trump is proposing that the entire Gulf of Mexico be called ‘Gulf of America,’ but only its continental shelf,” the Mexican leader said.
“Google is wrong. If they continue insisting, then we will even consider a lawsuit,” Sheinbaum said, explaining that Google is applying the new designation even to parts of Mexico’s continental shelf.
This week, maps created by Google and Apple have labeled the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” for U.S. users of their platforms. Sheinbaum argues that the executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on January 20 applies only to the continental shelf of the Gulf within the United States, not to the international body of water or the areas belonging to Mexico and Cuba.
“Even though it is a private company, it has become an international reference,” Sheinbaum said regarding Google and its maps.
On Wednesday, the Encyclopaedia Britannica announced that it would continue referring to the body of water as the Gulf of Mexico, as that has been its name for 425 years. It also argued that it is an international body of water and that the authority of the United States to rename it is ambiguous.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
