- Users on social media called for a boycott of Waze in late 2025, suggesting the company behind the popular navigation app contributed funds to the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump-Vice President JD Vance, as well as to the new White House ballroom.
- According to the Federal Election Commission, Google (which acquired Waze in 2013) was listed as a donor of $1 million to the Trump-Vance inaugural fund. Reporting by outlets such as The New York Times and ABC News stated Google also contributed an undisclosed amount to fund Trump’s new White House ballroom.
- Google has not yet commented on whether Waze was directly involved in the contributions made by its parent company.
In November 2025, a rumor circulated on social media that Waze, a popular GPS navigation app, contributed funds to the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump-Vice President JD Vance, as well as to the White House’s new planned ballroom.
Some users took to social media platforms like Threads (archived), Facebook (archived) and TikTok (archived) to share the rumor and encouraged their followers to boycott the app.
For instance, one user shared, “Time to boycot Waze!! They donated $1 million to the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee in 2025, And also contributed funding to the renovation and operation of Trump’s White House Ballroom! Let’s show them what we are capable of!”
@atandysplace s/o to the big beautiful boycott for this info 🧍🏻♀️ #fyp #hopecore #waze #vlog ♬ Hinoki Wood – Clavier
The claim that Waze donated $1 million to the Trump-Vance inauguration and an undisclosed amount to the construction of the new White House ballroom was not as straightforward as users suggested, though.
Waze, founded as FreeMap Israel in 2006 before being rebranded as Waze in 2009, was acquired by Google in 2013 for over $1 billion.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) website listed donors to the inauguration along with the amounts contributed. According to the FEC, Google donated $1 million to the inauguration.
This appeared to be the impetus for users spreading the claim and calling for a boycott, but Google representatives have not yet responded for comment on whether Waze was directly involved in this contribution, so we have opted not to rate this claim.
(The donations are not listed in alphabetical order, but users can do a Ctrl+F search for “Google” and find the donation listed between Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Gotion, Inc.)
(Federal Election Commission)
Google was also named on a list of donors to Trump’s ballroom provided by the White House, as reported by outlets such as The New York Times, ABC News, and The Guardian.
No contribution amounts were reported. Snopes reached out to the White House press office and Google to independently verify this information and will update this article if we receive a reply.
The call to boycott Waze specifically appeared to originate with Big Beautiful Boycott, self-described as a “nonpartisan nationwide movement reclaiming the power of the people through collective action” that adds “10 new companies” to its boycott list each week and analyzes their connection to the Trump administration.
The organization’s page dedicated to Waze cited its ownership by Google as its primary reason calling for the boycott. A video on Big Beautiful Boycott’s TikTok page (archived) posted on Nov. 8, 2025, offered viewers alternatives to the Waze app in order to support their suggested boycott.
For further reading on companies that have donated to Trump, visit Snopes’ previous reporting on claims the Trump administration cut fines of Wells Fargo executives in return for donations to the inauguration and what we know about who’s paying for the new White House ballroom.
Sources
Big Beautiful Boycott. https://bigbeautifulboycott.us/company/waze/. Accessed 17 Nov. 2025.
Christensen, Laerke. “Who’s Paying for the New White House Golden Ballroom? What We Know.” Snopes, 1 Aug. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//news/2025/08/01/trump-gold-ballroom-white-house/.
Dunbar, Marina. “Senate Democrats Demand List of Donors to $300m Trump Ballroom.” The Guardian, 29 Oct. 2025. US News. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/29/trump-ballroom-donors-democrats.
Esposito, Joey. “Unpacking Claims Trump Admin Cut Fines of Wells Fargo Executives in Return for Donation to Inauguration.” Snopes, 2 May 2025, https://www.snopes.com//news/2025/05/02/trump-wells-fargo-inauguration-donation/.
“Google Maps and Waze, Outsmarting Traffic Together.” Google, 11 June 2013, https://blog.google/products/maps/google-maps-and-waze-outsmarting/.
Lunden, Ingrid. “Google Bought Waze For $1.1B, Giving A Social Data Boost To Its Mapping Business.” TechCrunch, 11 June 2013, https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/11/its-official-google-buys-waze-giving-a-social-data-boost-to-its-location-and-mapping-business/.
News, A. B. C. “These Are the 37 Donors Helping Pay for Trump’s $300 Million White House Ballroom.” ABC News, https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/37-donors-helping-pay-trumps-300-million-white-127464186. Accessed 17 Nov. 2025.
Schedule 13-A Itemized Donations Accepted: FEC-1890321. https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00894162/1890321/f132. Accessed 17 Nov. 2025.
“The Insider Story of Waze.” NFX, 1 June 2021, https://www.nfx.com/post/the-insider-story-of-waze.
“White House List of Donors for President Trump’s $300 Million Ballroom.” The New York Times, 23 Oct. 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/us/politics/trump-ballroom-donors-list.html.
