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| - Fact Check: Google, Apple and the Palestine dilemma
Social media users shared claims that American tech giants Google and Apple have removed Palestine from their map services.
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India Today Fact Check
Palestine was never included in the map services of Google and Apple.
Many on social media have claimed that American technology giants Google and Apple have recently removed Palestine from their map services.
“Palestine is officially removed from the Google and Apple map! #FreePalestine,” reads the viral claim
Breaking: (Di jerit) Palestine is officially removed from the Google and Apple map! #FreePalestine
Apple maps Google maps pic.twitter.com/kGpwmRDTri — (@shahrulxr) July 16, 2020
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India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the viral claim to be misleading. While netizens are demanding that Palestine be put ‘back’ on the maps, we found it never existed on Google or Apple maps in the first place.
The claim is quite viral on Twitter. The archived versions can be seen here and here.
AFWA probe
Palestine is recognised by the United Nations and 138 of its members as an independent state, but not by the United States where Google and Apple are headquartered.
We tried searching for Palestine on Google and Apple maps.
Typing Palestine on Google Maps will show you an approximate location with an outline of Gaza and West Bank territories. Nowhere can the name ‘Palestine’ be found.
The search result on Apple Maps is almost the same. We couldn’t find ‘Palestine’ marked on the service.
Through an Internet search, we found this is not the first time Google has been accused of removing Palestine from its map service.
In 2016 too, Google was accused of ‘removing’ Palestine from its map service. We found a statement released by the Forum of Palestinian Journalists ‘condemning’ Google for not marking Palestine on its map service.
A 2016 article by “The Guardian” says Palestine was never on Google or Apple maps. The article said, “Google has been accused of deleting Palestine from Google Maps but the truth is, it was never labeled by Google in the first place.”
The article also quotes a Google spokesperson who said, “There has never been a ‘Palestine’ label on Google Maps.”
Another 2016 article by “The Washington Post” confirmed that Apple Maps too neither marks Palestinian territory nor differentiates it from Israel.
We also checked the official websites of Google Maps and Apple Maps for any clarification on the matter.
Google, in a section in its online help centre for ‘disputed boundaries’, states: “Disputed boundaries are displayed as a dashed grey line. The places involved don’t agree on a boundary.”
Thus, the claim that Palestine was recently removed from the map services of Google and Apple is false. The tech giants never marked the region on their maps.
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