Google Omrlassifi fi les as ‘Sensitive Country’ like China, Russia

Google‘S Card Department Monday Reclassified the United States as a “sensitive country”, a designation, it reserves states with strict governments and boundary visions, CNBC has learned.

The new classification for the United States came after President Donald Trump said his administration would make name changes on official maps and federal communication. These changes include renaming the Mexico Golf as “America Golf” and renaming Mount Denali as Mount McKinley.

Google’s order to stop appointing US as a “non-sensitive” country came Monday, according to internal correspondence seen by CNBC. That’s when the company announced that it would change the name of the water mass between Yucatan and Florida peninsula to “America Gulf of America” ​​in Google Maps after the Trump administration updates its “official government sources.”

The decision to raise the United States to its list of sensitive countries illustrates the challenges facing tech companies as they try to navigate the early days of another Trump presidency. Since the start of the year, MetaTiktok, Amazon And others have adjusted their products and policies to reflect Trump’s political views, policies and executive orders.

Trump had a rocky relationship with Silicon Valley throughout his first presidency and did not avoid criticizing the sector throughout his 2024 campaign. Recently, tech leaders, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, have pursued closer ties with Trump, with more standing behind the president during his inauguration.

Google’s list of sensitive countries includes China, Russia, Israel, Saudi -Arabia and Iraq. The label is also used for countries that have “unique geometry or unique labeling”, according to internal correspondence reviewed by CNBC.

The US and Mexico are new additions.

The “sensitive” classification is a technical configuration that means some labels within a given country different from other countries, a spokesman for the company told CNBC.

It is unclear whether Google’s reclassification of the United States extends beyond its “Geo” division.

With more than 2 billion monthly usersGoogle Maps is the world top Navigation app.

Some team members in the map department were ordered to make changes to the location name and categorize the US from “non-sensitive” to “sensitive” according to internal correspondence. The changes got a rare “P0” order, which means it had the highest priority level and employees were immediately notified and instructed to drop what they did to work on it.

Google’s order says the shift golf of America title should be treated corresponding to the Persian Gulf, which in Arab countries appears on Google Maps like Arabian Golf.

“We have received a few questions about naming within Google Maps,” the company said in one X Post. “We have a long -term practice of using name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.”

Google added that the name Mexico Golf will remain shown to users in Mexico. Users in other countries will see both names, the company said.

When Obama -Administration changed the name of the Alaska mountain from Mount McKinley to Denali in August 2015, Google updated cards To reflect the name change, a Google spokesman told CNBC.

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