Polymarket Paid Creators To Film Fake Trades In Covert Social Media Campaign, Investigation Finds

by
Alisa Davidson

Revealed: June 22, 2026 at 9:24 am Up to date: June 22, 2026 at 9:24 am

by Anastasiia O

Edited and fact-checked:
June 22, 2026 at 9:24 am

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Polymarket, the New York-founded cryptocurrency prediction market, orchestrated a large-scale influencer marketing campaign by which social media creators had been paid to movie themselves making simulated trades on duplicate web sites designed to imitate the true platform, in response to a Wall Road Journal investigation. The scheme, which generated greater than 140 million views throughout TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, concerned dozens of largely college-age creators who had been instructed to hide their monetary relationship with the corporate.

The evaluation of greater than 1,100 movies posted by ten TikTok creators recognized by Polymarket’s advertising and marketing companions discovered that in 778 movies the place creators appeared to put bets, all of them had been utilizing counterfeit variations of the platform. Polymarket constructed near-identical copies of its web site — together with one registered beneath the area “poiymarket” — and directed creators to file trades on these dummy environments. The faux web site was taken down after the Journal contacted the corporate for remark.

Among the many creators recognized was George Makihara, a school scholar whose movies confirmed him apparently successful $100,000 on a guess that President Trump would say the phrase “McDonald’s” in January. Public knowledge from Polymarket’s precise platform confirmed that greater than 50 actual accounts positioned that very same guess throughout that interval — and all of them misplaced. Makihara, who declined to remark, appeared to have positioned 145 bets totaling almost $410,000 throughout his movies between January and mid-Could. None had been actual.

Creators reported receiving between $2,000 and $3,000 monthly, with Polymarket reviewing footage earlier than publication and requesting reshoots if movies had been insufficiently participating or confirmed apparent indicators of fabrication. In at the very least 128 of the 149 movies that cited information protection to recommend a betting consequence, the Journal discovered that the supporting media had been offered in a false context, together with altered articles. At the very least 69 bets depicted as wins would have been losses had they been positioned on the precise platform.

A Coordinated Infrastructure for Viral Distribution

Past the creators themselves, Polymarket employed a advertising and marketing contractor known as Virality to handle a secondary layer of the marketing campaign: a community of “clippers” paid to re-post and amplify creator content material throughout platforms. Inside educational supplies reviewed by the Journal confirmed that as of early June, Virality solely compensated clippers if at the very least 60% of their viewers was primarily based in the USA — a notable element provided that Polymarket has been barred from providing its main crypto-based trade to U.S. prospects since a 2022 settlement with regulators.

Virality instructed its clippers to make sure their posts appeared “private and natural,” and discouraged any overt affiliation with the model. In messages from a gaggle chat involving almost 20,000 exchanges, a Virality worker advised contributors to take away the phrase “Polymarket” — and even “poly” — from their account names to keep away from violating marketing campaign pointers. Virality declined to remark.

Creators had been moreover instructed to not disclose that they had been being paid, and the ten core creators didn’t initially establish themselves as Polymarket companions of their bios. They started including “@polymarket associate” designations solely after the Journal started making inquiries. Razeen Khan, a California-based school scholar who labored as a creator till March, acknowledged the character of the association however defended it by evaluating the movies to fast-food promoting. “We’re depicting what truly occurs,” he mentioned.

Regulatory Scrutiny and a Aggressive Backdrop

The marketing campaign carries potential authorized publicity on a number of fronts. Federal promoting legislation requires paid endorsers to reveal their relationships with manufacturers. Commodities legislation, which governs prediction markets, prohibits misleading and manipulative practices. The Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee, which has jurisdiction over prediction markets, has beforehand introduced enforcement actions in opposition to corporations that used simulated trades in advertising and marketing supplies. A CFTC spokeswoman responded to the Journal’s reporting by stating the significance of bringing offshore prediction markets beneath more practical regulatory oversight.

The FTC, which enforces promoting requirements, declined to touch upon the Journal’s findings, citing its coverage of not discussing potential investigations. Representatives for TikTok mentioned a lot of the flagged accounts had already been restricted for coverage violations. YouTube and Meta issued statements noting that creators are required to reveal paid promotional relationships.

Polymarket mentioned in a press release that it’s “dedicated to sustaining correct, truthful, and clear markets” and introduced plans to conduct a complete audit of lively promotional content material.

The advertising and marketing push coincides with intensifying competitors from Kalshi, a U.S.-regulated rival that has lately pulled forward in buying and selling quantity. In line with knowledge supplier The Block, Kalshi logged roughly double Polymarket’s buying and selling quantity final month. Polymarket is concurrently in search of to reverse the 2022 settlement that excluded its crypto platform from the U.S. market, in response to an individual accustomed to the matter — a regulatory marketing campaign that unfolds in opposition to a political backdrop by which President Trump has publicly known as for unique federal oversight of prediction markets.

Alisa, a devoted journalist on the MPost, makes a speciality of crypto, AI, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a eager eye for rising tendencies and applied sciences, she delivers complete protection to tell and interact readers within the ever-evolving panorama of digital finance.

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