"Corporate America has caved" — Internet reacts to Google removing Pride Month and Black History Month from the calendar app

Google has recently removed mentions of Pride Month, Women's History Month, and Black History Month from its calendar app. According to FOX, a spokesperson for the company revealed that in mid-2024, they decided only public holidays and national observances would be displayed on the app.

The outlet further reported that these changes were implemented alongside several other alterations under new guidelines introduced by Trump's administration. As per a Google product expert, several other months, like Indigenous People Month, Jewish Heritage, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Hispanic Heritage Month, were also removed from the calendar app.

However, the move did not sit well with many users. Netizens flooded social media platforms like X to call out the company. While one user argued that this decision made the company "look weaker," others described it as "disappointing." One user on X (@gobacktosanity) tweeted:

"Corporate America has caved All for the money Not a single tinge or hint of American patriotism It's sad If your old it's not that bad but if you have children Pray for them"

Another netizen stated:

"I thought Google had more integrity. How disappointing."

"I don’t care what @Google removes, changes or does whatever Felon 47 orders or wants. It only makes Google look weak," added a tweet.

"Labor Day will go next, no doubt," mentioned a user.

Many users further bashed the company and even pointed out that they "gave in" to the policies made in the new administration. A user commented:

"These guys are bending the knee so hard to the Mad King that they are going to need knee replacement surgery."

"Wooooow they bent the knee too huh? F*ck you," read a tweet.

"Times to switch browsers," added another netizen.

---

Google argued that maintaining multiple observances across several nations was not "sustainable"

As per The Verge, the reasons behind the removal of several observances from the calendar app have been revealed. The company cited difficulties in maintaining so many observances and dates from different countries.

Spokesperson Madison Cushman Veld told The Verge that including all these events was neither "scalable" nor "sustainable," which led to the decision. Cushman stated:

"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."

As previously mentioned, starting in mid-2024, only public observances were visible on the calendar. Any other events could be added by the users manually.

The company has undergone several changes recently under the new Trump administration. This could include the diversity hiring goals as well as changing the name Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America." As per FOX, it was also announced that the company would use "Mount McKinley" instead of "Denali."

As for the removed observances, the company has not clarified if they have plans to restore them ever in the future.

---

According to Forbes, not just Google, but several tech companies like Amazon, Meta, PayPal, and Intel have been cutting off multiple diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives lately.