Google Is Getting Flak for Changing Lake Ontario Name to Lake America
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Google is getting flak for changing Lake Ontario's name to Lake America
By Aditi Bharade
Google Maps has changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America for American users.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario, which straddles the Canadian and US border, to Lake America. The US Geographic Names Information System formally changed the name of the water body.
On Sunday, Google announced that it updates Maps based on official government sources, meaning US users would see "Lake America" while Canadian users would see "Lake Ontario." Users outside these two countries would see "Lake Ontario (Lake America)."
The backlash to Google's change was swift and significant:
- Some X users called the change "pathetic" and an instance of Google "distributing misinformation."
- Another user suggested it demonstrated how weak Google is, noting its "bowing down" to Trump.
- A creative user quipped that the tool should be named "Google Craps."
The change also sparked some blowback from Canadian politicians. Stephen Crawford, a member of Ontario's provincial parliament, noted that some Canadian government websites displayed "Lake America" due to pulling map data from Google Maps—an issue his province is addressing.
Crawford added in his post:
"As Ontarians, we will always stand up for our province, our identity, and the places that define it."
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