By Kolawole Ojebisi
Mexico has asked American multinational corporation and technology company, Google, to correct a misnomer on its maps platform stressing that failure to do so may attract legal action.
While speaking about the misnomer, Mexico pointed out Google labelling the entire Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” for US-based users.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that the renaming follows an order by US President Donald Trump but argued that the directive only applies to the portion of the continental shelf under US jurisdiction.
“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 US continental shelf,” Sheinbaum told reporters.
“We do not agree with this, and the Foreign Minister has sent a new letter addressing the issue.” he added.
Sheinbaum criticised the change as “incorrect,” stressing that Trump’s order “only changed the name within his own continental shelf, which extends 22 nautical miles from the US coast—not the entire Gulf.”
Google last week updated its maps to reflect the name change for users in the United States, citing “a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.”
However, users in Mexico still see “Gulf of Mexico,” while those in other countries see both names.
Sheinbaum initially raised the possibility of legal action last week, calling the designation “inaccurate” and suggesting a civil suit could be an option if the issue is not corrected.
During Monday’s press conference, Sheinbaum read out Google’s response to a letter Mexico had sent in January contesting the name change.
“As we first announced two weeks ago, and consistent with our product policies, we’ve begun rolling out changes in Google Maps. We would like to confirm that people using Maps in Mexico will continue to see ‘Gulf of Mexico,’” the letter stated.
“People in the US will see ‘Gulf of America’. Everyone else will see both names,” it added.
Sheinbaum confirmed that Mexico has now sent a new letter back to Google, which states: “Any reference to the ‘Gulf of America’ initiative on your Google Maps platform must be strictly limited to the marine area under U.S. jurisdiction.”
“Any extension beyond that zone exceeds the authority of any national government or private entity. Should that be the case, the Government of Mexico will take the appropriate legal actions as deemed necessary,” it added.
Sheinbaum said Mexico would await Google’s response before deciding on the next steps.
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