Why did Google and Apple change Lake Ontario to Lake America? And why did MapQuest decide not to?

On August 27, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America." The order applies to the federal government and the Geographic Names Information System — not to private companies. Google Maps made the change over the weekend of August 29th, citing official government sources. Apple Maps followed on September 1st, after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Fox Business that Trump had personally asked Apple to make the switch.

MapQuest refused. Its app went to No. 1 in Navigation on the U.S. App Store, No. 4 among all non-gaming apps, and No. 2 overall in Canada, picking up roughly 180,000 downloads in a week. Its parent company, System1 (NYSE: SST), saw its stock jump. MapQuest is the control group here: it proves compliance was a choice.

In this video I look at what changed. Google walked away from China in 2010. Tim Cook beat the FBI in 2016. Google dropped Project Maven in 2018 after 4,000 employees signed a petition, and killed Dragonfly in 2019. Then Google fired about 50 workers over Project Nimbus in 2024 and deleted its AI no-weapons pledge in 2025. Meanwhile Apple pledged $100 billion in U.S. investment and won an exemption from 100% semiconductor tariffs, and Google is still in the remedies phase of two federal antitrust cases — including Judge Leonie Brinkema's September 2nd ruling on its ad network. When a president holds that much of your business, you're not looking for hills to die on.

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