I'm guessing that they made it location dependent like they did with the Gulf of Mexico. In Canada it's still showing Lake Ontario.
this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2026
260 points (97.8% liked)
Buy European
10845 readers
58 users here now
Overview:
The community to discuss buying European goods and services.
Rules:
-
Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. No direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments.
-
Do not use this community to promote Nationalism/Euronationalism. This community is for discussing European products/services and news related to that. For other topics the following might be of interest:
-
Include a disclaimer at the bottom of the post if you're affiliated with the recommendation.
-
No russian suggestions.
Feddit.uk's instance rules apply:
- No racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia or xenophobia.
- No incitement of violence or promotion of violent ideologies.
- No harassment, dogpiling or doxxing of other users.
- Do not share intentionally false or misleading information.
- Do not spam or abuse network features.
- Alt accounts are permitted, but all accounts must list each other in their bios.
- No generative AI content.
Useful Websites
-
General BuyEuropean product database: https://buy-european.net/ (relevant post with background info)
-
Switching your tech to European TLDR: https://better-tech.eu/tldr/ (relevant post)
Benefits of Buying Local:
local investment, job creation, innovation, increased competition, more redundancy.
European Instances
Lemmy:
-
Basque Country: https://lemmy.eus/
-
๐ง๐ฌ Bulgaria: https://feddit.bg/
-
Catalonia: https://lemmy.cat/
-
๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark, including Greenland (for now): https://feddit.dk/
-
๐ช๐บ Europe: https://europe.pub/
-
๐ซ๐ท๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ญ France, Belgium, Switzerland: https://jlai.lu/
-
๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐น๐จ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฎ Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein: https://feddit.org/
-
๐ซ๐ฎ Finland: https://sopuli.xyz/ & https://suppo.fi/
-
๐ฎ๐น Italy: https://feddit.it/
-
๐ฑ๐น Lithuania: https://group.lt/
-
๐ฑ๐บ Luxembourg https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/
-
๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands: https://feddit.nl/
-
๐ต๐ฑ Poland: https://fedit.pl/ & https://szmer.info/
-
๐ต๐น Portugal: https://lemmy.pt/
-
๐ธ๐ฎ Slovenia: https://gregtech.eu/
-
๐ธ๐ช Sweden: https://feddit.nu/
-
๐น๐ท Turkey: https://lemmy.com.tr/
-
๐ฌ๐ง UK: https://feddit.uk/
Friendica:
-
๐ฆ๐น Austria: https://friendica.io/
-
๐ฎ๐น Italy: https://poliverso.org/
-
๐ฉ๐ช Germany: https://piratenpartei.social/ & https://anonsys.net/
-
๐ซ๐ท Significant French speaking userbase: https://social.trom.tf/
-
๐ต๐ฑ Poland: soc.citizen4.eu
Matrix:
-
๐ฌ๐ง UK: matrix.org & glasgow.social
-
๐ซ๐ท France: tendomium & imagisphe.re & hadoly.fr
-
๐ฉ๐ช Germany: tchncs.de, catgirl.cloud, pub.solar, yatrix.org, digitalprivacy.diy, oblak.be, nope.chat, hot-chilli.im, synod.im & rollenspiel.chat
-
๐ฆ๐น Austria: gemeinsam.jetzt & private.coffee
-
๐ซ๐ฎ Finland: pikaviestin.fi & chat.blahaj.zone
Related Communities:
Buy Local:
Continents:
European:
Buying and Selling:
Boycott:
Countries:
Companies:
Stop Publisher Kill Switch in Games Practice:
Banner credits: BYTEAlliance
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I checked with a US VPN and it was still showing as Lake Ontario but I was logged into my European account. So it might be either some caching thing or tied to the account location.
I think it has to do with account location. I moved to Sweden a year ago but my account is still more or less associated with the US. It shows as lake america for me
Openstreetmap, US VPN
I really need to go back to using osm...
CoMaps is a good alt
Next phone I get needs to be non-Android
You don't need to get a non-Android phone in order to get a non-Google phone.
Android is open source, and if you are willing to forgo the Google Play Store and Google Play Services there are non-Google options. GrapheneOS and /e/OS are de-Googled versions of Android, for example.
Fairphone comes with an option with /e/OS installed by default, if you don't want to bother installing it yourself.
Android may be technically 'open source' but it is not a collaborative project. It is completely controlled by Google, who are reducing the frequency of their source code releases and gradually making it more difficult for third-party Android forks to survive by convincing app vendors to make their apps refuse work on non-'certified' Google Android installations.
Alternative phone operating systems are the way to go if you really want to de-Google. Lots of them can run Android apps as well as the Android forks for now, and their own app libraries are growing rapidly as developers get tired of Google's shenanigans.
I need to look into this. Fairphone seems a good option.
If you specifically want /e/OS, you need to watch out where you buy the Fairphone.
There is two versions, with the regular Android (with Google services) version being the more common one.
https://www.fairphone.com/nl/the-fairphone-gen-6-e-operating-system
If you buy this one from their website you are guaranteed to get the /e/OS version
Edit: Also worth noting that you could also unlock the bootloader, and install /e/OS on the regular Android version as well. You might be able to save โฌ 150-200 that way.
To my knowledge you can relock the bootloader after you are done? You'd have to look into that yourself though.
You're only saving โฌ50 and you lose your warranty...
Not sure if you can buy unlocked phones from 3rd parties where you live, but over here in the NL I can get a green one for โฌ511,-
(They used to be under โฌ500 for all models, but the RAM shortage makes a fool of us all)
Buying the /e/OS version from Fairphone directly is โฌ649. So the difference is still โฌ138, which I wouldn't say is insignificant.
I'm on the Fairphone 6 and love it. You lose RCS chat though. Just a heads up.
Do you know if Fairphone supports passkeys? I'm using KeePassDX but couldn't find it in their compatibility list :/
Then you lock yourself into the apple ecosystem.
Get a supported device for graphene and you're good.
GrapheneOS is Android
De-googled android
No really? Crazyyyyyyyyyy.
For real tho, it is, but it doesn't include any google services, which is why any apps requiring them won't work on graphene unless you make use of their compatibility layer, which is still significantly less of a privacy problem than the original one.
Unless linux phones become useable, android without google services is the most privacy respecting option you have available.
Your original comment was such a non-sequitor that I thought it necessary to clarify. Because an exchange that is roughly summarised as
"I don't want Android [or Google]"
"OK, use Android [on a Google phone]"
Does not really make much sense without additional context. Thanks for adding that context.
Be warned that Pixel 11 (and probably ones following) will not be supported for GrapheneOS. Memory tagging was removed in the hardware and that is a requirement for them to consider the device secure enough to be willing to support it.
postmarketOS is not exactly ready for daily driving IMO (without a backup phone anyway)
I checked. This is real.
Apple Maps holding for now
It's still showing as Lake Ontario on Google Maps in the Netherlands
The Gulf of Mexico is also still called the Gulf of Mexico, but they put Gulf of America in parenthesis
By all means de-Google though. Cut all the American tech companies out of your life as much as feasibly possible.
Here they've decided to pick both sides, which doesn't make me think any better of Google but still is a bit nice:
This is what I see as well (from Europe)
The funny thing is that Lake America doesn't even associate it to the US, it just makes the name more ambiguous. Of course, the Trump admin would never have suggested naming it Lake New York because the US government is even alienating their own states at this point.
guys, this is distraction, stop taking the "flood the zone" bait
I get what youre saying, but damaging google in Europe is an unintended and deserved consequence of the shit show that is US politics.
But absolutely right: don't forget the ongoing war in Iran, the unneeded trade war in Canada, the bullying of the EU and other allies over trade, the constant threats to NATO, American indifference to the Russian war on Ukraine, Trump generally being a putin arse kisser, the criminalisation of tourists to the US, Trumps enabling of Israeli atrocities in Gaza and of course the Epstein files. And much more.
We don't have a vote in the US elections, but we can stop using Google, Facebook, Twitrer/X, and Microsoft products. And we can vote in our elections for people who codemn Trump. That is how we can have our say.
Ah Shit, Here We Go Again
It is only in US, and all other parts of the world still see "Lake Ontario". Also, they are following the law they have to follow. So... there are plenty reasons to de-google, but this ain't one.
Also, they are following the law they have to follow.
Huh, I must have missed the news that Google had become a federal government department.
So why did Google then show Lake Ontario before instead of for ex. Lake Google? Can't they then just write like... whatever they want?
What law is that?
No law, you're right. But they have an internal policy to follow the federal agency official naming + they show data depending on the country so they can isolate the change to only US.
Mapquest isn't changing it.
How much does the stock of MapQuest depend on good terms with the US government?