Pokemon GO removes Epstein Island Pokestop five years after accidental approval

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Following the release of new documents, Niantic has removed a Pokémon GO PokéStop that was located on Little Saint James, also known as Epstein Island, after it gained attention online.

A structure called the Sun Clock, or Sun Dial, is located on Jeffrey Epstein’s former private island. Public interest in this spot increased significantly after the Department of Justice made almost three million pages of related documents available on January 30, 2026.

Starting on February 7, 2026, players of a popular game began posting screenshots online showing that a virtual landmark, called a PokéStop, was active on the private island of Little Saint James. Since the island is off-limits to the public, players used location-spoofing techniques to virtually “visit” the PokéStop and interact with it. The Silph Road subreddit became the main place where players shared updates and tracked the PokéStop’s availability.

After fans discovered Epstein’s island had a pokestop- niantic removes it
byu/Wonderful-Hunter7869 inTheSilphRoad

How the Epstein Island Pokestop appeared in Pokemon GO

So, I was digging around with other players, and we figured out where this weird ‘Sun Clock’ stop in Pokémon Go actually came from. Apparently, it started as a location in Niantic’s older game, Ingress! Kotaku reported it was probably submitted as a Portal in Ingress sometime between 2020 and 2021, and somehow carried over to Pokémon Go. Pretty cool to see the connection between the games!

Pokemon GO and Ingress use a shared database of locations. Because of this, places officially designated as ‘portals’ in Ingress automatically become ‘Pokestops’ in Pokemon GO.

Players recognized the image used to mark the stop, and believe it came from drone footage posted on YouTube in July 2019. They think the image shows a sundial that’s located on the island.

Niantic’s Wayfarer rules require that all locations be safely accessible to pedestrians. Because Little Saint James is a private island with no public access, it doesn’t qualify.

Niantic officially confirmed on February 9, 2026, that a specific Pokestop would be removed. GAMINGbible first reported this confirmation directly from the company. Niantic usually doesn’t comment on individual Pokestop removals, but they made an exception to verify this one.

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2026-02-11 18:48