Polymarket is singled out for a campaign with misleading videos on networks as regulatory pressure grows
Polymarket is once again at the center of controversy, this time due to a journalistic investigation that points to a promotion strategy based on misleading videos on social networks. According to Engadget based on an investigation of the Wall Street Journalthe platform would have paid creators to publish content that simulated betting and winnings within the service, although many of these pieces did not actually show the Polymarket site or truthful results.
The Wall Street Journal reviewed 1,105 TikTok videos and concluded that 778 appeared to show someone placing a bet. However, according to that review, none of those videos showed the real Polymarket website, but rather fictitious pages designed to look like it. The outlet also claims that, in more than half of the cases where the video appeared to show a winning bet, the actual result would have actually been a loss.
The investigation adds that some creators would have received specific instructions to make their publications more convincing and attractive, in addition to the support of a kind of coordinated network to republish those videos and increase their reach. That is, it would not just be paid promotion, but rather a campaign designed to give the appearance of authenticity and spontaneous virality.
More pressure on a model already questioned in several countries
This episode comes at a delicate time for prediction markets. In Spain, for example, Consumption opened a file against Polymarket and Kalshi and ordered their websites to be blocked while it studies whether their activity fits within unauthorized gambling. The situation is also moving in the United States, where some states have begun to act, and in other European countries that continue to debate how to classify these platforms.
The new research further complicates that conversation, because it no longer focuses only on the legal fit of the product, but also on how to promote before the public. In an environment where networks like TikTok have enormous pulling power, the use of videos that appear to show real benefits can increase scrutiny of these types of services, especially if they end up reaching vulnerable profiles or young users.
For now, what we see is that Polymarket is in an increasingly complicated situation. To the regulatory pressure on its activity is now added a serious accusation about deceptive network marketingsupported by the analysis of more than a thousand videos and testimonies about how these pieces would have been prepared to look real.
