Google suspends Map Maker after prank

Alex Yau

May 12, 2015

Map Maker has been suspended. Google has decided to suspend the service after a prank submission showed the Android mascot peeing on an Apple logo.

Map Maker is a service that allows anyone to contribute to Google Maps. Soon after discovering the prank submission, the company took the prank down and confirmed it was user-created.

Google Maps moderation

Since the prank was discovered, Google has disabled auto-approval and user moderation. It now relies on manual checks from its in-house team. The company says it’s gathered a huge backlog of user-contributed edits. Public submissions have been disabled entirely whilst Google its developing a new moderation system.

It’s a temporary solution which the company says will take a few days to fix.

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