“Google Maps Updates with ‘Lake America’ Labels, Trump Urges Apple to Follow Suit on iPhones”
The recent inclusion of “Lake America” labels on Google Maps has sparked controversy as U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for Apple to adopt the same naming convention on all iPhones.
Experts in the tech industry point out the dominance of American-owned platforms in Canada, leaving consumers and businesses with limited non-American alternatives.
Canadian Research Chair Anne Pasek from Trent University in Peterborough highlights how many aspects of Canadians’ digital and daily lives fall under American jurisdiction due to the prevalence of American tech monopolies.
Recently, some Canadian websites, including federal government sites and major banks, displayed maps renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America following Trump’s executive order amid trade tensions. Google made the change for U.S. users and offered a localization option for non-American websites to display “Lake Ontario.”
Notably, mapping tools from U.S. tech giants play a crucial role in Canadian businesses, providing essential information like operating hours, contact details, and facilitating e-commerce transactions.
Policy researcher Emily Osborne from the Canadian Shield Institute warns about potential vulnerabilities for Canada if tensions escalate, suggesting Dutch companies TomTom and HERE Technologies as alternatives to Google and Apple for navigation services.
Osborne emphasizes the importance of Canadian businesses diversifying their reliance on American tech companies to mitigate risks of potential disruptions in services due to geopolitical tensions, citing past instances like the AWS outage affecting Canadian businesses.
In light of these concerns, Osborne highlights the need for Canadian businesses to explore alternatives in critical digital infrastructure areas such as payment processing and cloud storage to reduce dependency on U.S.-owned platforms.
