Polymarket Launches Audit of Promotional Videos After Wall Street Journal Report on Misleading Content

Polymarket said it is auditing its promotional content after a Wall Street Journal investigation found the prediction market paid online creators to post videos that falsely depicted customers winning a total of $1.9 million. The findings, published June 20, were based on interviews with creators and a review of more than 1,100 TikTok videos from 10 accounts.

Most videos showed phony trades on dummy sites made to look like Polymarket, the Journal reported.

The company hired a marketing contractor to instruct clippers to repost the material. One video showed a college-aged student winning $100,000 on a $1,000 bet that President Trump would say the word "McDonald's" in public that month. Records on the actual platform showed 50 accounts placed the same bet and all lost.

The Journal found that 118 videos, about 10 percent of those analyzed, portrayed creators winning almost $900,000 when identical bets would have lost more than $166,000. On June 26, consumer protection firm Vaca Daffan Law sued Blockratize, which operates Polymarket, along with founder Shayne Coplan and chief marketing officer Matthew Modabber.

" Polymarket stated it is committed to transparency and fair markets.

"We are part of a rapidly growing industry and are constantly evaluating ways to improve how we're engaging and earning the trust of our audience," a spokesperson said. " The company has faced prior scrutiny. Federal prosecutors alleged in May that a Google employee made more than $1.2 million on Polymarket using confidential information.