Member-only story

Why Google is Erasing Diversity

--

The controversy surrounding Google’s decision to remove Black History Month, Pride Month, Women’s History Month, and other cultural observances from Google Calendar has sparked widespread criticism and debate. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the situation:

Courtesy of LearnEconomicsOnline

What Happened?

Google recently updated its calendar settings, removing several significant cultural and historical observances, including:

  • Black History Month (February)
  • Pride Month (June)
  • Women’s History Month (March)
  • Indigenous Peoples Month (November)
  • Holocaust Remembrance Day

These events were previously displayed on Google Calendar, allowing users to easily see and acknowledge them. Now, Google has stated that it will only show public holidays and national observances, claiming that the previous system of manually managing hundreds of cultural observances was “unsustainable.”

Google’s Explanation

In an email sent to Newsweek, Google justified the change by saying that their approach to adding cultural events manually was not feasible in the long term. The decision was framed as a logistical issue rather than a deliberate effort to exclude specific groups. However, this…

--

--

Astra Politics by Antonio De Santis
Astra Politics by Antonio De Santis

Written by Astra Politics by Antonio De Santis

Globetrotting PPE student by day, international relations aficionado by night. That’s the gist of me in a nutshell

No responses yet