Polymarket has been paying online creators to post misleading videos showing them making lucrative bets in the prediction market, according to a new investigation in the Wall Street Journal.
The WSJ said it analyzed 1,100 videos about Polymarket and also viewed instructional materials the company provided to creators. Many of those videos were reportedly filmed on “near-perfect copies” of Polymarket’s website, and featured trading and earnings that were not real. The creators’ videos were then amplified by a “social media army” deployed by a marketing contractor.
The WSJ said the company also told those creators not to specify that Polymarket had paid them, although creators began adding “@polymarket partner” to their bios after journalists began asking questions.
Razeen Khan, a college student and creator who worked with Polymarket until March, compared the practice to commercials that make fast food seem more attractive than it is in real life: “We’re depicting what really happens.”
Polymarket said it is “committed to maintaining accurate, fair and transparent marketplaces” and plans to conduct an audit of its promotional content.
