Google Calendar pulls Pride Month and other awareness events from its platform

Google Calendar has received backlash after it scrapped Pride Month and other awareness events from its platform.

Pride Month, which is marked on June 1, was removed alongside Black History Month (February 1) and Women’s History Month (March 1).

A Google spokesperson said the changes have been in the works for months.

“Some years ago, the Calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world,” the spokesperson said.

“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,” the spokesperson added.

The changes have sparked backlash from users, with some threatening to remove the services from their devices. Critics state that the move affects the marginalised communities.

Google Maps also changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The company also changed its hiring criteria based on diversity to be in line with Trump’s executive order on Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI).