Washington, September 2: Apple has changed the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” on its Apple Maps service for users in the United States, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename the Great Lake.

Apple confirmed that U.S. users will see “Lake America” after the name was updated in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). The move follows Google Maps, which made the same change for U.S. users over the weekend.

However, the change is not being applied uniformly worldwide. Users in Canada will continue to see “Lake Ontario,” while users in other parts of the world will see both names. Apple is following a similar approach to the one it adopted after the Trump administration renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”

Trump’s executive order applies to official U.S. federal geographic naming and does not determine what Canada, international organisations or other countries call the lake. Canadian officials have said they will continue using the historic name, Lake Ontario, which has been in use for more than 400 years.

The renaming has also highlighted the growing involvement of major U.S. technology companies in geopolitical disputes. Lake Ontario is one of North America’s five Great Lakes, with approximately 52% of its surface area in Canada and the remainder in New York.

The latest move comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Canada over trade and other bilateral issues.

Source: Reuters