Google has removed popular dates and observances from its default desktop and mobile calendars for users, including Black History Month, Pride Month, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Indigenous People’s Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and other key holidays and events the tech giant once celebrated.
Google’s recent changes are in response to Trump’s executive order
The Verge initially reported on the news last week, citing frustrations from online users who called out Google over the controversial change. According to the outlet, the tech company’s latest changes are a response to President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders targeting DEI initiatives and federal workers in this department.
Google spokesperson Madison Cushman Veld explained why the company had stopped displaying these events in the default calendars.
Google spokesperson confirms the changes started last year
“For over a decade we’ve worked with timeanddate.com to show public holidays and national observances in Google Calendar. Some years ago, the Calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world,” Veld said in a statement obtained by The Verge.
“We got feedback that some other events and countries were missing — and maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable. So in mid-2024 we returned to showing only public holidays and national observances from timeanddate.com globally, while allowing users to manually add other important moments.”
One online user calls the event removal ‘shameful’
In a Google help thread, several users were angry about the tech company’s removal of these important dates and holidays that are widely celebrated nationwide. One user said the platform is now used to “capitulate to fascism” and called the move “shameful.”
“These bootlickers have immediately shown us who they are. I thought I was the only one who noticed! Let’s spread the word! Google are Nazi sympathizers. Submitting ‘Feedback’ to the ether will accomplish nothing. Shout it out loud!” another user wrote on the help page.
“Grow a pair google. The ‘great’ orange leader doesn’t get to own facts or history,” a third user wrote.
According to Newsweek, Google donated $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration, and its CEO, Sundar Pichai, attended the ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21.
Nearly a week later, Google announced on Jan. 27 that it was updating its maps system from the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America” by Trump’s executive order to rename it.
