Google Under Fire: What’s Behind the Removal of Pride Month and Black History Month from its Calendar App?
If you’re a regular user of Google’s Calendar app, you might have noticed that events like Pride Month and Black History Month are no longer marked on your calendar.
This change has sparked a wave of backlash, with many accusing the tech giant of downplaying its commitment to diversity and inclusion.
What’s Going On?
According to Google, the decision to remove these events from its Calendar app wasn’t a new one. In a recent blog post, the company explained that it made the change back in mid-2024 to simplify things.
Prior to this, Google used to manually add cultural celebrations, teachers’ days, and other moments from around the world to its calendar.
However, after receiving complaints that many events and countries were still missing, the company decided to scale back.
As Google put it, “it just wasn’t feasible to put hundreds of moments in everyone’s calendars.”
So, What’s Included on Google’s Calendar Now?
Instead of manually adding cultural events, Google now only includes public holidays and national observances from timeanddate.com.
But don’t worry, Google insists that it’s still celebrating these cultural moments across its products – you might have seen its tributes to Black History Month and Lunar New Year recently.
The Backlash: Why Are People Upset?
Despite Google’s reassurances, many people feel that removing these events from the calendar sends the wrong message.
Even though users can manually add them back, the fact that they’re no longer included by default has sparked concerns about Google’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
This comes at a time when other major tech companies, like Meta and Amazon, have also scaled back their diversity programs since Donald Trump came into power.
A Shift in Google’s Diversity Hiring Targets
Just last week, Google’s HR chief, Fiona Cicconi, announced that the company will no longer set specific hiring targets for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Citing Google’s role as a federal contractor, recent US court rulings, and executive orders, Cicconi explained that this shift is necessary.
However, this decision has only added fuel to the fire, with many critics accusing Google of backtracking on its diversity commitments.
What do you think about Google’s decision to remove Pride Month and Black History Month from its Calendar app? Share your thoughts in the comments!