Google has recently faced criticism after removing several cultural and heritage events from its default calendar listings. These changes, implemented in mid-2024, resulted in the removal of significant observances such as Black History Month, Pride Month, Jewish Heritage Month, Indigenous People Month, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Hispanic Heritage Month. This decision marks a shift in Google's approach to diversity and inclusion, aligning with a broader trend among Big Tech companies to reassess their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
The calendar update coincided with the Trump administration's executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America" for U.S. users. This name change occurred just a day after the executive order was announced. Google's calendar team had previously taken steps to manually include a wider variety of cultural moments across numerous countries. However, in response to scalability concerns, the company has reverted to displaying only events recognized as public holidays or national observances by timeanddate.com.
“Some years ago, the Calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world. 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,”
- Madison Cushman Veld
Despite these changes, users retain the option to manually add important events to their calendars. Nevertheless, Google's decision has sparked debate over its commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion. Critics argue that eliminating DEI-related events from default calendar views signifies a regression in promoting cultural awareness and inclusivity.
The company's spokesperson, Madison Cushman Veld, confirmed the changes to TechCrunch, emphasizing the logistical challenges of maintaining a broad array of cultural moments across different countries. Meanwhile, other tech giants like Meta and Amazon have also announced modifications to their DEI programs, reflecting an industry-wide reevaluation of diversity initiatives.
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