In the United States, the prediction market platform Polymarket has come under fire for allegedly paying young content creators to film fake wins on duplicate websites, as revealed by The Wall Street Journal.
These creators simulated large trades on contracts related to political, economic, and cultural events, including speeches by former President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve interest rate decisions, creating an illusion of easy earnings for ordinary users.
According to the report, Polymarket and its contractors created nearly identical copies of the platform, where the creators traded contracts without risking real money, subsequently portraying significant wins. Subtle differences between the duplicate sites and the real Polymarket helped identify the staged wins.
After WSJ reached out for comments from the creators and the company, many posts were deleted. Polymarket shut down the duplicate sites, and TikTok and YouTube began to restrict accounts related to the campaign for hidden advertising.