Google Maps in Poland flooded with inappropriate names for landmarks. Google is now quickly correcting them

One of the pillars of Google Maps is that its data is helped to be made more accurate by users themselves. In Poland, however, someone turned this openness upside down over the past weekend – for dozens of the most famous Warsaw locations, vulgar, provocative, and in some cases even fascist names appeared instead of official ones. Google is gradually deleting the offensive names and most of them were reverted by Monday.

What appeared on Google Maps?

According to Notes from Poland, it was a coordinated wave of edits affecting approximately 80 locations, mainly in Warsaw. The Presidential Palace was temporarily changed in the app to “Palace of Hooligans” – likely a reference to President Karol Nawrocki’s football past. The Warsaw Uprising Museum was named “Third Reich Uprising Museum” and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was changed to “Tomb of the Known SS Soldier”. Piłsudski Square appeared as “Dzerzhinsky Square” after the founder of the Soviet secret police, and the Palace on the Isle in Warsaw’s Łazienki Park received a reference to Epstein’s Island.

Some of the renamings were openly obscene. The Złote Tarasy shopping center was transformed in the maps into a vulgar anagram of its own name, and many other places suffered a similar fate.

How do Google Maps allow changing place names?

Google Maps largely relies on its community – users can suggest corrections and additions, including place names. Such suggestions usually go through verification before being displayed to others. However, this mechanism apparently failed in Poland, as the offensive names reached the public in large numbers. Google has not yet explained in detail how so many false edits bypassed moderation.

Was it an attack or a prank?

Initial speculations pointed to a Russian trace, but the Polish government rejected it. Deputy Minister for Digitalization Dariusz Standerski stated in an interview with Onet that, according to available information, it was neither an attack nor an organized action, but rather “children playing”. He linked the renaming to a technical error that, in his opinion, could have occurred during the update of map systems.

The company itself commented succinctly. Google’s Polish representation stated that it is continuously removing inappropriate names assigned to a number of places in Poland and blocking the accounts responsible for them. Most of the changes were successfully reverted to their original state by Monday morning.

Have you also encountered an incorrect place name in Google Maps?

Sources: Notes from Poland, 9to5Google, TVP World