On June 25, the anonymous Facebook account “National Spirit” disseminated the claim that Google had removed Palestine from the map.
The claim that Google removed Palestine from the map is false. Palestine has never been marked as a country in the Google Maps search engine. The Google map shows Gaza and the West Bank with labels and dashed gray borders/bars.
The claim that Google removed Palestine from the map has been circulating for years now. The British outlet The Guardian published an article on this topic back in 2016. The claim was also verified by the American fact-checking platform Snopes in 2024.
The Guardian explains that for years Google has been accused of erasing Palestine from Google Maps, but it has never been marked/put on the map as a country because, while 136 UN member states recognize Palestine as an independent state, the US and much of the West do not share this position.
Therefore, in Google, the territories of Gaza and the West Bank are marked like other disputed territories: they are shown with labels and dashed gray borders/bars.
About the Source
The disinformation disseminated by the Facebook account “National Spirit” has been debunked by Myth Detector a number of times in the past.
Tamar Khutsishvili
Myth Detetor Laboratory
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