Several cultural events have had their default references removed from Google’s online calendar.
Some social media users have noticed that celebrations such as Pride, Black History Month and other observances are no longer visible in desktop and mobile applications.
In the past week, attention has been drawn to these absences, particularly concerning upcoming events that are no longer automatically listed. Historically, the world’s biggest search engine celebrated Pride Month in June and Black History Month in February, but these events are not visible in the calendar for 2025.
Other observances, such as Indigenous Peoples Month in November and Women’s History Month in March, have also been eliminated. According to Google, the change was made in mid-2024.
Google's online calendar is a digital scheduling tool that allows users to manage their events, appointments and reminders across multiple devices.
A Google representative told The Verge: “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.”
Last year, Google explained it “returned to showing only public holidays and national observances from timeanddate.com globally, while allowing users to manually add other important moments.”
This is just one of several adjustments the company has made since US President Donald Trump began his second term in January.
The tech giant also announced it would be reversing its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in its employment policy after Mr Trump issued an executive order to reduce DEI efforts in federal agencies.
In late January, Google revealed that it would start using Mount McKinley for the mountain in Alaska known as Denali. It said users in the US would see the Gulf of Mexico renamed the “Gulf of America”.
On Monday, Google changed the Gulf name for US users.
Google told the Guardian that future Google Doodles, which often feature graphic artwork celebrating significant occasions, would not be affected by the changes to its Calendar. The company said: “Google continues to actively celebrate and promote cultural moments as a company in our products.”
Many social media users have expressed disappointment and frustration over Google’s recent actions.
One X (formerly Twitter) user wrote: “Wait, what?? That’s wild. Why would they remove those specifically? Feels like they’re gonna have to backtrack real quick.”
Wait, what?? That’s wild. Why would they remove those specifically? Feels like they’re gonna have to backtrack real quick. 😬
— Rory Bernier (@RoryCGO) February 10, 2025
Another user said: “They may be removing stuff from Google Calendar or other things but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or that it isn’t important. We refuse to be erased. We will stand up and be strong together.”
They may be removing stuff from google calendar or other things but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or that it isn’t important.
— PantherLillie (@PantherLillie) February 11, 2025
We refuse to be erased.
We will stand up and be strong together. pic.twitter.com/rUj5cdA9NT
Some users weren’t as concerned by the changes. One wrote: “Thankfully nobody uses Google Calendar.”
thankfully nobody uses google calendars https://t.co/QIW9AXtExg
— izzy (@izzybelleeeee) February 11, 2025
Google getting rid of Pride Month on its calendar doesn’t really matter much because it’s not like Pride Month is some kind of official holiday, it’s a protest. It will exist regardless of what corporations say.
— Carbone-Arts (@Black_andGreen) February 11, 2025
Another added: “Google getting rid of Pride Month on its calendar doesn’t really matter much because it’s not like Pride Month is some kind of official holiday, it’s a protest. It will exist regardless of what corporations say.”
