Google has removed Women’s History Month, Black History Month, and LGBTQ+ holidays from its online and mobile calendar services, a shift that has drawn attention from users worldwide. For years, the tech giant highlighted cultural events in its popular calendar app, but recent updates have omitted these observances.
A Google spokesperson stated that the decision was made in mid-2024 to streamline the platform’s functionality. “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 company explained.
Google now displays only public holidays and national observances sourced from timeanddate.com. Users can still manually add important events to their calendars.
A broader shift in policy
The decision to remove these observances aligns with broader policy changes at Google and other major tech firms, particularly in light of shifting political dynamics in the U.S. Since the expectation of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, several companies, including Google, have reassessed their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Google scales back DEI initiatives
In February, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, announced it would eliminate specific DEI hiring goals and reevaluate its diversity-focused programs. The company, which provides cloud computing and other services to the U.S. government, is also reviewing recent policy changes introduced by the Trump administration.
“Because we are a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes to our programs required to comply with recent court decisions and U.S. Executive Orders on this topic,” said Fiona Cicconi, Alphabet’s Chief People Officer, in an internal email.
Implications of policy changes
Further reflecting these policy shifts, Google revealed in late January that U.S.-based users would see the Gulf of Mexico renamed as the “Gulf of America” on Google Maps. The update followed an executive order signed by President Trump mandating the name change.
As Google continues to refine its policies, the impact on cultural representation within its platforms remains a topic of discussion among users and advocacy groups.
