Polymarket paid creators to post fake winning bets in viral social media campaign
A campaign generating over 140 million views involved creators placing simulated trades on dummy sites, with Polymarket now conducting an internal audit of its promotional content to ensure regulatory compliance.
A Wall Street Journal investigation has revealed that prediction market platform Polymarket paid social media creators to produce and distribute viral videos depicting fake, high-value winnings. The campaign, which generated over 140 million views across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, involved creators placing simulated bets on cloned websites that mimicked Polymarket’s interface. Polymarket has stated it is conducting an audit of its promotional content to ensure compliance with regulatory and legal disclosure requirements.
The investigation identified 145 fake bets placed by creator George Makihara between January and May, including a $100,000 wager on President Trump saying the word “McDonald’s” that did not occur in reality. Polymarket constructed near-perfect copies of its website, including a misspelled URL (poiymarket.com), to facilitate these simulated trades. Creators were instructed to hide their paid status, avoid using “Polymarket” in their account names, and present content as “personal and organic.”
The campaign targeted US residents, requiring at least 60 percent of viewers to be located in the United States, despite Polymarket’s main platform being restricted in the US since 2022. Polymarket hired a marketing firm to enlist a “social-media army” to repost content from ten specific creators, including Makihara. Creators were paid between $2,000 and $3,000 per month and received bullet-point guidance on their messaging.
Polymarket reviewed videos and requested reshoots if they appeared too obviously fake, though some videos still contained glimpses of test environment URLs. The Journal reviewed 1,105 videos made by 10 creators and identified fake bets totaling $1.9 million. While most of the videos were of fake bets being placed, there were 118 videos of “creators reacting to outdated footage or fake headlines suggesting they’d won.” Those 118 videos showed creators winning almost $900,000, but the bets in reality would have lost over $166,000, the report said.
Donald Trump Jr. serves as an advisor to both Polymarket and its rival Kalshi, and a venture capital firm backed by Trump Jr. invested in Polymarket. The controversy highlights broader concerns regarding transparency in digital marketing and the regulatory status of prediction markets in the US, with political figures such as Donald Trump Jr. holding advisory roles in the sector.
