Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”

Photo credit: @Google maps This image is taken in real time on google maps 15th Feb 2025

Google Maps has blocked reviews for the Gulf of Mexico, after criticism of its decision to label it “Gulf of America” for users in the US.

The tech giant updated the name of the location on Wednesday after President Donald Trump ordered it to be changed in official government documents.

Clicking on the label for the Gulf in Google Maps now brings up a note saying “posting is currently turned off”.

Google also appears to have deleted some negative reviews left in the wake of its name change.

The company has defended its decision, saying it “regularly puts protections on places during times when we anticipate an uptick of contributions that are off-topic or unrelated to someone’s direct experience with the place.”

Golf of Mexico

Controversial changes

In a blog post on Monday, Google announced that US users would see “Gulf of America” replace Gulf of Mexico on Maps.

It said this followed a “longstanding policy” of reflecting name changes updated in official US government sources.

The name would remain unchanged in Mexico and the rest of the world would see “Gulf of America” added next to its current name in brackets, Google added.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote a letter to the company asking them not to rename the Gulf in a letter in late January.

President Sheinbaum reportedly reiterated her concerns on Thursday – suggesting the country could sue Google over the name change.

Meanwhile, Apple has also changed the name for US users of its own Maps app.

Star Trek actor George Takei has encouraged people to “report” the renamed location on Apple Maps in a post to his 1.1m followers on BlueSky.

“Please continue to report,” he wrote above a screenshot of a viral post on X (formerly Twitter) of someone appearing to report the renamed location.

The White House highlighted Apple Maps displaying “Gulf of America” instead of Gulf of Mexico in a X post on Wednesday.

Big tech firms and their chief executives have been accused of trying to “curry favour” with the Trump administration through controversial policy changes.