{"id":30917,"date":"2026-06-05T17:19:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T17:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/polymarket-allegedly-paid-influencers-at-least-350000-for-undisclosed-promotions-report\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T17:19:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T17:19:34","slug":"polymarket-allegedly-paid-influencers-at-least-350000-for-undisclosed-promotions-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/polymarket-allegedly-paid-influencers-at-least-350000-for-undisclosed-promotions-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Polymarket allegedly paid influencers at least $350,000 for undisclosed promotions: report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p>Polymarket has paid at least $350,000 to social media influencers over a 14-month period, with many of those creators later promoting the prediction market platform on X without clearly disclosing a paid relationship, according to a POLITICO investigation based on PayPal transaction records.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_b864803d59e261a8507d69daa82f5a10\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>POLITICO reported that Polymarket\u2019s chief marketing officer sent at least $350,000 to influencers, many of whom later promoted the platform on X without clear paid partnership disclosures.<\/li>\n<li>More than 490 Polymarket-related posts were identified across paid creators during a 14-month period, according to POLITICO\u2019s review of payment records and social media activity.<\/li>\n<li>The report arrives as Polymarket faces growing scrutiny in multiple jurisdictions, including a user investigation in South Korea and ongoing regulatory attention in the United States.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>According to POLITICO, the payments were sent by Polymarket chief marketing officer Matthew Modabber through a personal PayPal account between January 2025 and February 2026.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Polymarket is paying some of social media\u2019s biggest political influencers <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hUuZ30LThF\">https:\/\/t.co\/hUuZ30LThF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 POLITICO (@politico) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/politico\/status\/2062822638129680849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 5, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The publication reported that Modabber transferred more than $2.5 million to over 800 people during that period, while records reviewed by reporters identified at least 20 influencers who later posted about Polymarket hundreds of times on social media.<\/p>\n<p>Among those who reportedly received payments were conservative influencer Alex LoRusso, political commentator Brian Krassenstein, former collegiate swimmer and Fox News contributor Riley Gaines, and several other online personalities with large followings across the political spectrum.<\/p>\n<p>A Polymarket spokesperson told POLITICO that working with content creators forms part of the company\u2019s normal business practices and said the platform regularly collaborates with independent organizations, partners, and creators to support its mission of providing market-based insights.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The spokesperson declined to discuss the company\u2019s disclosure policies, the use of Modabber\u2019s personal PayPal account, or whether the payments were reported as business expenses.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Influencer campaign grows alongside Polymarket\u2019s expansion<\/h2>\n<p>Records reviewed by POLITICO showed that at least 20 creators who received money from Modabber posted about Polymarket on X after the payments began. The publication counted more than 490 posts mentioning the platform during the review period and reported that none included disclosures identifying them as paid promotions.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<p>Federal Trade Commission guidance requires influencers to disclose material connections when endorsing products or services. Speaking to POLITICO, former FTC deputy general counsel Robin Moore said the activity described in the report appeared to be the type of arrangement that generally should be disclosed.<\/p>\n<p>Several creators promoted major Polymarket developments after receiving payments, according to the report. Following the launch of a Department of Government Efficiency dashboard in February 2025, influencer Eric Daugherty described the release as a breaking development to his audience. Riley Gaines and media personality Elijah Schaffer also shared posts praising the feature, POLITICO reported.<\/p>\n<p>Later in June, after Polymarket announced a partnership with Elon Musk\u2019s artificial intelligence company xAI, multiple paid influencers published supportive posts within hours of each other, according to POLITICO\u2019s review of social media activity.<\/p>\n<p>One influencer who spoke anonymously to the publication said Polymarket occasionally supplied suggested posts and directed creators toward specific markets or announcements that it wanted promoted.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Shane Ginsberg, founder of the social media marketing company Street Poller, reportedly received at least $77,000 from Modabber. POLITICO reported that Ginsberg\u2019s network of creators produced man-on-the-street videos promoting Polymarket during the run-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, with some creators displaying Polymarket branding even when the platform itself was not directly mentioned.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Regulatory scrutiny continues to build<\/h2>\n<p>The marketing campaign has emerged as Polymarket faces increasing legal and regulatory attention in several jurisdictions.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, South Korean authorities have recently opened what Chosun Biz described as the country\u2019s first known investigation into domestic Polymarket users. The Gangwon Provincial Police Agency is examining whether participation on the platform violated South Korea\u2019s gambling laws, with investigators reportedly considering whether user activity falls under provisions of the Criminal Act governing gambling offenses.<\/p>\n<p>Regulators and prosecutors in South Korea have recently shown a willingness to apply existing laws to blockchain-based activities. As previously reported, prosecutors charged several individuals linked to the CATFI meme coin rug pull in a case described by Digital Asset as the country\u2019s first prosecution involving a decentralized exchange under the Virtual Asset User Protection Act.<\/p>\n<p>Pressure has also increased in the United States. In May, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Google software engineer Michele Spagnuolo with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering after alleging he used confidential company information to profit from prediction market contracts on Polymarket tied to Google\u2019s annual search rankings. Prosecutors said the activity generated roughly $1.2 million in profit.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a parallel civil complaint and reiterated that insider trading laws apply to prediction markets. Enforcement Director David Miller said the agency remains focused on preventing the misuse of nonpublic information in markets under its jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<p>Questions around Polymarket\u2019s market operations have also drawn criticism from traders. Last week, a disputed market asking whether Strategy would sell Bitcoin before May 31 concluded with a \u201cNo\u201d outcome after a final UMA review, despite a regulatory filing showing that Strategy had sold 32 Bitcoin during the final week of May.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The resolution sparked complaints from several traders and prompted renewed debate over how prediction markets should handle disputed outcomes and post-trade rule clarifications.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Polymarket has paid at least $350,000 to social media influencers over a 14-month period, with many of those creators later promoting the prediction market platform on X without clearly disclosing&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30917"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30918,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30917\/revisions\/30918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}