Google Calendar no longer shows Holocaust Remembrance Day and Jewish American Heritage Month
Google says the changes predate President Donald Trump’s directives against diversity initiatives
Hong Kong, Hong Kong – JULY 31: A smart phone with the icons for the Google Calendar app is seen on the screen in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, on July 31, 2018. (Photo by S3studio/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Google Calendar has removed International Holocaust Remembrance Day and Jewish American Heritage Month from its default display in the United States, part of a broader removal of cultural and ethnic observances from the app.
The removal is being noticed now as companies across the United States roll back a range of diversity, equity and inclusion measures following the Trump administration’s directives against DEI. But Google told tech news outlets in recent days that the changes to the calendar date back to mid-2024 and have to do with workload rather than government policy.
“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,” the tech giant, which is valued at $2.3 trillion, told The Verge.
In addition to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on Jan. 27, and Jewish American Heritage Month in May, the observances that no longer automatically appear include Pride Month and Black History Month. Since Donald Trump assumed the presidency, some official commemorations of International Holocaust Remembrance Day have been canceled amid the crackdown on DEI.
The changes to Google Calendar came to public attention the same week that Google Maps changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, the new name Trump proclaimed. On Tuesday, the White House barred an Associated Press reporter from a briefing after demanding that the news organization alter its style guide to reflect the new name.
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