Google Calendar has scrapped Pride Month, among other events, from its platform without a public announcement.
Pride month, which was marked on June 1, was removed alongside Black History Month (previously marked on February 1), Women’s History Month (marked on March 1), and Indigenous People’s Month marked on November 1.
Google Spokesperson Madison Cushman Veld, while confirming the changes, stated that Google reached the decision after it found it difficult to maintain observance of these events across different countries.
Google explains the reason for the removal
“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,” stated Veld.
The changes were effected in mid-2024. Going forward, the company stated that it will only focus on showing public holidays and national events as opposed to having a broad list of cultural moments.
The company now states that those who wish to track these observances can manually add them to their calendars.
Google had partnered with Timeanddate.com to display the major holidays and events. However, in the recent past, the company had begun adding the events manually which has turned out to be unsustainable.
Other changes effected under Trump’s administration
“In mid-2024 we returned to showing only public holidays and national observances from timeanddate.com globally, while allowing users to manually add other important moments,” added Veld.
Other changes made by the company have come about as a result of a shift in policies following the election of President Donald Trump.
The changes have sparked backlash from users, with some threatening to remove the services from their devices. Critics state that the move affects the marginalized communities.
Google Maps also changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The company also changed its hiring criteria based on diversity to be in line with Trump’s executive order on Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI).