EditOrganised pranksters rename Polish presidential office “Hooligans’ Palace” on Google Maps
Google Maps allows users to suggest changes to information such as place names, opening hours and locations, operating through a crowdsourced system
Poland’s Presidential Palace and a series of prominent landmarks across Warsaw were briefly renamed with offensive and politically charged labels on Google Maps over the weekend, in what appears to be a coordinated act of digital vandalism targeting some of the country’s most recognisable public sites.
The unauthorised edits surfaced late on Saturday, affecting at least a dozen locations in the Polish capital before many of the changes were removed. Polish authorities are expected to investigate the incident, although it remains unclear who was behind the campaign.
Among the most prominent targets was the Presidential Palace, which appeared on Google Maps as “Hooligans’ Palace” – an apparent reference to reports that President Karol Nawrocki participated in an organised clash between rival football supporters some 17 years ago.
The “Hooligans’ Palace” label appeared to reference one of the controversies that dogged Nawrocki during this year’s presidential campaign.
Polish media reported that he had taken part in a pre-arranged football hooligan brawl in 2009 involving rival supporters of Lechia Gdańsk and Lech Poznań. Nawrocki did not deny participating, describing box fighting as “noble” or “sporting” contests that had helped shape his character.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was renamed “Tomb of the Known SS Soldier”, while the Warsaw Uprising Museum was labelled the “Museum of the Third Reich Uprising”.
Warsaw’s Palace on the Isle, located in the Royal Baths Park complex, appeared under the name “Epstein’s Palace on the Isle”.
The coordinated edits also affected Piłsudski Square, which was temporarily renamed “Dzierżyński Square”, alongside a number of monuments, public institutions, parks and commercial sites throughout the city.
Some of the altered names carried openly offensive connotations.
Among the sites affected was the Monument to the Victims of the 2010 Smolensk Air Disaster. Several modifications remained visible on Monday morning, including one popular shopping centre that appeared under the name “Arkadia Waffen SS”, although many of the entries were subsequently restored to their official names.
In a statement to TVP World, Google said it was “continuously removing inappropriate names assigned to many locations in Poland on Google Maps” and was “blocking accounts responsible for them”.
The company added that its teams were working to restore the correct place names and that updates would become visible as Google Maps data is refreshed.
Google Maps allows users to suggest changes to information such as place names, opening hours and locations, operating through a crowdsourced system that relies partly on community contributions.
While suggested edits are subject to review before publication, Google says certain high-profile landmarks and sensitive locations are protected by additional safeguards and may only be modified directly by the company.
Google Maps has previously faced isolated cases of cyber-vandalism in which schools, businesses and public institutions were temporarily renamed as pranks. However, the apparent coordinated re-labelling of numerous high-profile landmarks across the Polish capital appears to have been carried out on a significantly larger scale.
Sources: TVP world, Onet.pl, Rzeczpospolita, FocusEurope.pl
Caption: Illustrative photo.The Google logo is pictured during the re:publica festival 2026 in Berlin, Germany, 18 May 2026. The re:publica Berlin 2026 takes place from 18 to 20 May 2026 under the motto ‘Never Gonna Give You Up.’ EPA/FILIP SINGER
Updated: July 7, 2026 - 02:55
