video story

Clarification about changing the name of Bassel al-Assad International Airport on Google Maps

Clarification about changing the name of Bassel al-Assad International Airport on Google Maps

Ahmad Primo Ahmad Primo   Friday 19th October 2018

Ahmad Primo Ahmad Primo   Friday 19th October 2018

Social media news groups and websites shared videos and photos about changing the name of Bassel al-Assad International Airport in Latakia and adding an offensive term to the name of the eldest son of ex-Syrian president Hafez al-Assad.

The websites and social media pages said “Google Maps changed the name of Bassal al-Assad Airport” and similar titles to hint that Google is behind changing the name.

Verify-Sy would like to remind audience that changing names of specific places on Google Maps is based on suggestions by the users and reviewed by the company to accept or refuse the suggestions.

According to the tech expert Jihad al-Masri, Google Maps allows to change the name of any place or site by anyone and also allows to add other information like address or working hours.

Al-Masri added that the process is monitored by other people who don’t work with Google before being accepted and sometimes this could take hours.

Google explains in its “Google Maps Help” page the process of how to change or remove modifications to a place in the following link.