Polymarket ofa new scandal after a Wall Street Journal: the company paid content creators to upload fake videos on social media, in which they presented fabricated betting wins. The investigation identified more than 1,105 misleading videos, while creators confirmed that they were paid to create them — without disclosing it to their audience.
The videos looked real at first glance, but subtle clues revealed the fraud. A case in point: one clip showed a visit to “poiymarket.com” instead of the real polymarket.com — a fake domain used specifically for the farce. The Journal’s investigation concluded that none of the bets in the videos were real. In 118 videos, creators celebrated winnings of nearly $900,000, when in reality the same bets would have resulted in losses of $166,000.
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Since the Journal began its investigation, many creators have removed the videos, and Polymarket has taken down fake domains like “poiymarket.”.
Polymarket: The scandal that threatens the credibility of prediction markets
Polymarket is a prediction market platform where users trade contracts tied to future events — political, economic, sports. Its core promise is transparency: transactions are recorded on a public blockchain and are verifiable by anyone. This makes the revelation particularly significant: the company used fake “proofs” of profit to attract users, while its very value is based on trust and transparency.
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Polymarket’s history with regulators is well-known. In 2022, the company was fined $1.4 million by U.S. regulators for operating an undeclared market and ordered to cease non-compliant activities. Now, the new scandal comes at a crucial time: the prediction market industry is experiencing explosive growth, with Polymarket and its main competitor, Kalshi, together handling $25 billion in trading volume in April 2026 (a 10x from last year).
According to The Verge, the scandal represents a classic credibility problem: the marketing strategy used fake “proofs” of profit to sell a product whose appeal depends precisely on trust in transparent pricing and settlement. Industry experts believe that this practice could increase scrutiny from the CFTC and state attorneys general for misleading advertising and consumer protection issues.
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The impact on users is clear: videos that show easy profits can mislead inexperienced investors, leading them to underestimate the risk of loss. According to a New York Times, nearly 40% of American men aged 18 to 34 have participated in trading on such platforms — an audience that is particularly vulnerable to aggressive influencer marketing. Polymarket announced that it will review its advertising contentin an effort to limit damage to its reputation and reduce regulatory risk.
