Polymarket is embroiled in a scandal regarding social media posts about Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The prediction market Polymarket claimed that Mr. Bezos recently advised young entrepreneurs to take a regular job before starting their own business.
Mr. Bezos quickly denied this. In light of this incident, concerns have been reignited that the prediction market spreads unverified news and misinformation on social media.
Mr. Bezos refutes Polymarket's post
On Thursday, Polymarket reported on X (formerly Twitter) that Bezos recently advised the 'entrepreneurial Gen Z' to work in 'real jobs' like McDonald's or Palantir before starting their own businesses.
A few hours later, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos reacted to this post, stating that he has never made such a statement and expressed doubt as to why Polymarket created such content.
Amid rising criticism of this issue, a video surfaced of Bezos advising young entrepreneurs at Italy's Tech Week. However, this conversation took place about three months ago, and the company names mentioned by Polymarket were not spoken by Bezos.
'I always advise young people to work at some best practice companies and learn a lot of basics,' he said, adding, 'I founded Amazon at 30, not at 20. That ten years of experience increased Amazon's chances of success.'
What stands out about this week's events is that Bezos himself clearly showed a stance denying Polymarket's claims.
At the same time, concerns about the spread of misinformation through prediction markets continue to rise among social media users.
Platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi are facing scrutiny for distorting events and spreading unfounded breaking news, from sports betting to geopolitical tensions.
Social media users quickly pointed out specific examples like this.
Do prediction markets amplify global misinformation?
In recent weeks, international tensions have escalated sharply. For example, the detention of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, large-scale protests in Iran, and conflicts regarding the Greenland purchase plans by the United States and European countries.
Such events create various bets in prediction markets, while the platforms also disseminate alerts on social media that are disconnected from reality.
Earlier this month, Polymarket posted a 'breaking news' that the Iranian regime's security forces had lost control over parts of the largest city in the country.
Although the Iranian government faces internal challenges, effective control by the military and security forces is maintained. This post contained doubts and inaccuracies but garnered approximately 7 million views, 17,000 likes, and 2,000 reposts.
Many comments criticized the platform as a site for spreading fake news.
Kalshi also posted related content highlighting the tensions between the U.S. and Denmark over Greenland. The prediction market reported that the two countries established a working group to discuss the U.S. purchase of Greenland, gaining 2.8 million views.
The White House acknowledged these claims, but Denmark expressed a different view, stating, 'We agreed to address U.S. security concerns regarding Greenland.'
Neither Polymarket nor Kalshi responded immediately to BeInCrypto's request for comments.
Similar allegations have emerged that a Kalshi official posted fake sports news on social media accounts.
According to Front Office Sports, despite being pointed out about these fake posts, neither Kalshi nor Polymarket have indicated a willingness to stop using affiliate badges.
As the rapid growth of prediction markets is expected over the next year, attention is being drawn to the dissemination of such unverified information and misleading information on social media.