f{"id":49958,"date":"2026-08-31T20:23:03","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T03:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=49958"},"modified":"2026-08-31T20:23:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T03:23:03","slug":"embarrassing-google-maps-renames-lake-ontario-as-lake-america-in-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/08\/31\/embarrassing-google-maps-renames-lake-ontario-as-lake-america-in-us\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Embarrassing\u2019: Google Maps Renames \u2018Lake Ontario\u2019 as \u2018Lake America\u2019 in US"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A screenshot of Google Maps taken in the US on August 30, 2026 shows \u201cLake Ontario\u201d renamed \u201cLake America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Google Maps\/ Screengrab)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name change followed President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order and \u201cserved as a reminder that billionaires will always side with authoritarians, because authoritarians will always protect billionaires at the expense of democracy and the working class.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Olivia Rosane<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aug 30, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tech giant Google faced widespread criticism over the weekend for becoming the first major online map provider to change the name of \u201cLake Ontario\u201d to \u201cLake America\u201d for its US users, after President Donald Trump<\/a> ordered<\/a> the name change in an executive order on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google presented<\/a> the decision as a procedural one in its statement on Saturday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The US Geographic Names Information System<\/a> (GNIS) has formally changed<\/a> the name for \u201cLake Ontario\u201d to \u201cLake America\u201d in the United States<\/a>. Since we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources, which is GNIS for the US, people using Maps in the US will see \u201cLake America,\u201d those in Canada will continue to see \u201cLake Ontario,\u201d and those outside of the US and Canada will see both names. These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water<\/a> with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Donald<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We\u2019d Really Prefer Affordable Healthcare\u2019: Trump \u2018Lake America\u2019 Order Ridiculed as Inane Distraction<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Canadian<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Canada Must Respond\u2019: Ottawa Slaps Retaliatory Tariffs on US Goods After Trump Trade War Escalation<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

However, advocates, lawmakers, and commenters saw the shift as another example of Big Tech<\/a> in general, and Google in particular, caving to Trump\u2019s whims. Notably, the CEO of Google\u2019s parent company Alphabet, Sundar Pichai, attended Trump\u2019s inauguration with a host of other Silicon Valley moguls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is so embarrassing for\u00a0@Google<\/a>\u00a0and served as a reminder that billionaires will always side with authoritarians, because authoritarians will always protect billionaires at the expense of\u00a0democracy<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0working class<\/a>,\u201d Melanie D\u2019Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health,\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/killedbygoogle\/status\/2094037246328627462?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2094037246328627462%7Ctwgr%5E63b6184f1fa1be1dada5fb1e6cb81d6fcfc9ebde%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fgoogle-map-rename-trump<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Mark Pocan<\/a> (D-Wis.) threatened<\/a> the company with congressional questioning for its capitulation, writing on social media: \u201cHey @Google<\/a>, how about an option for thinking people vs. cultish sheep? I don\u2019t wanna have to see your brown lips from Trump. How about calling it what it is? Don\u2019t forget, when the Majority changes in the House and Senate, you might have some answering to do. Correction. WILL.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ruben Gallego<\/a> (D-Ariz.), in response to another social media post about the change, wrote<\/a> sarcastically, \u201cThat\u2019s definitely going to make food more affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenneth Roth, the former head of\u00a0Human Rights<\/a>\u00a0Watch,\u00a0asked<\/a>, \u201cIs Google really so terrified of Trump that it has to play along with his childishness?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/KenRoth\/status\/2094064176876376319?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2094064176876376319%7Ctwgr%5E63b6184f1fa1be1dada5fb1e6cb81d6fcfc9ebde%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fgoogle-map-rename-trump<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump biographer Seth Abramson chastised the company, writing<\/a>, \u201cThing #1 that you *do not do* for a psychopath: appease them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Google was the first digital map provider to make the change, it will not be the last, according<\/a> to Wired, which reported that Apple<\/a> and Bing are expected to follow suit. All three companies changed<\/a> the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America following Trump\u2019s redesignation at the start of his second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump did receive pushback from other quarters at the time, with The Associated Press losing access<\/a> to presidential events because it refused to change its style guide to prefer \u201cGulf of America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This new name change, which Trump issued as part of an ongoing trade<\/a> war with Canada, has also met with resistance both within and beyond the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the day of Trump\u2019s order, MapQuest announced simply, \u201cWe\u2019re not changing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/MapQuest\/status\/2093038963196117303?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2093038963196117303%7Ctwgr%5E63b6184f1fa1be1dada5fb1e6cb81d6fcfc9ebde%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fgoogle-map-rename-trump<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected<\/a> the name change in a social media post on Thursday, pointing to the Indigenous<\/a> origins of the name Ontario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari\u2019io, which, appropriately, means \u2018the lake is beautiful, the lake is big.\u2019 The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWe know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms. Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario\u2014then, now, and always.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The upstate New York-based Seneca Nation on Friday asked<\/a> Trump to rescind the order, saying it violated an over 225-year-old treaty signed by President George Washington<\/a> and the Haudenosaunee confederacy, of which the Seneca are a member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca said the name change showed \u201cblatant disrespect\u201d to Indigenous groups, adding, \u201cThe President cannot assert ownership over our culture or erase it through irresponsible political action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a billboard on the lake\u2019s edge that reads, \u201cLake Ontario, now and always\u201d in English and French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

It\u2019s Lake Ontario, now and always. pic.twitter.com\/KNahtPAMeJ<\/a><\/p>— Doug Ford (@fordnation) August 29, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>