Mexico has sued Google for adopting the name “Gulf of America” for users of Google Maps in the United States, President Claudia Sheinbaum said, making good on an earlier threat to take legal action against the tech company over the name change.
Sheinbaum said at a news briefing Friday that a lawsuit had been filed, but did not provide further details. Sheinbaum did not say where and when the lawsuit was filed; The New York Times reports that it was told by her legal office that a suit was filed in a Mexican court in late March. The Mexican president had previously warned the tech company that Mexico was considering legal action.
Google did not immediately respond to MSNBC’s request for comment on the lawsuit.
In late January, after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rename certain geographical locations to “honor American greatness,” Google said it would follow suit and use the name “Gulf of America” for the body of water that lies between the U.S. and Mexico’s borders.
The change was in line with its “longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources,” Google said, noting that the change would apply only to Maps users in the U.S. Users in Mexico continue to see the name “Gulf of Mexico,” and other countries see both names on Google Maps. The Trump administration has been adamant about usage of the name, going so far as to punish The Associated Press in various ways for continuing to refer to the body of water as the Gulf of Mexico. Mexico’s legal action against Google comes as U.S. House Republicans have sought to codify the renaming of the gulf. A bill to make the change permanent narrowly passed the House on Thursday. Its passage is largely a show of deference to Trump, as it is unlikely to advance in the Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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