Google recently made a significant adjustment to its online Calendar by eliminating default references to a number of cultural holidays and events, including observances like Pride Month, Black History Month, Indigenous Peoples Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and Holocaust Remembrance Day. In the past, Google had manually curated a wider selection of cultural moments for various countries, supplementing the public holidays and national observances provided by timeanddate.com. However, the company explained that maintaining hundreds of events manually was neither scalable nor sustainable, leading to a decision made in mid-2024 to revert to using only public holidays and national observances from the timeanddate.com database, while allowing users to add other significant events on their own.
In another recent development, Google addressed changes on its Maps platform involving the renaming of geographical features. Following orders from former President Donald Trump, the company has updated the name of a body of water originally bordered by the U.S., Mexico, and Cuba to the Gulf of America, a change that is now reflected in Google Maps for U.S. users, while international users see both names. Similarly, adjustments have been made regarding the naming of Denali, though it continues to appear under both its traditional and updated identifiers.
Beyond these alterations, Google is also reevaluating its internal policies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The company announced plans to remove some of its diversity hiring targets following pressure from previous U.S. government actions, joining several other enterprises in scaling back such initiatives in response to evolving regulatory and contractual expectations.