Lynnae is a journalist covering the intersection of technology, culture, and gambling. She has more than five years of experience as a writer and editor, with bylines at SlashGear and MakeUseOf. On the iGaming side,...
Read Full BioCrypto-based prediction market Polymarket made waves on Monday, as its app took the top spot on the free sports-app chart in Apple’s App Store. The rapid rise seemed to even take the company’s founder and CEO, Shayne Coplan, by surprise, as he posted, “That was quicker than expected,” to his almost 150,000 followers on X.
At the time of this writing, Polymarket has lost its top ranking, falling to number 3, behind FanDuel Sportsbook & Casino and DraftKings Sportsbook & Casino on the sports app charts. That’s still an impressive showing, considering it only opened for beta testing in the U.S. on Nov. 12, 2025, and is currently invite-only with a waitlist numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
Polymarket’s unexpected moment at the top raised some eyebrows, especially since it came the day after Coplan made a much-anticipated appearance on 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper. While Coplan didn’t say much about sports markets during the interview, the timing has led to a wave of social media explanations about who or what was behind the sudden surge, renewing questions about influence, outreach tactics, and transparency.
Influencers Promote ’60 Minutes’ Segment Before It Airs
Before Coplan’s segment aired, many high-profile accounts were promoting it, leading some users to speculate that the messaging was more than just a “tune in” reminder, but a coordinated campaign to promote the app itself.
Many users noted that several of the accounts belonged to well-known media personalities and political influencers who were aligned with the MAGA movement. The fact that Donald Trump Jr. sits on Polymarket’s advisory board raised even more questions among users, who interpreted it as proof that the robust network was attempting to steer people to the platform.
A post by Laura Loomer drew a large amount of scrutiny, with a community note being added saying, “There is an influencer campaign happening right now with Polymarket that people are not disclosing…” Shortly after it was posted, the note was removed. Other accounts that amplified the account include Breaking911, ALX, George Santos, Benny Johnson, and Dinesh D’Souza, with follower counts ranging from several hundred thousand to more than a million.
It should be noted that X users vote on community notes, and if those votes shift, for example, if fewer users find a note “helpful,” it’s automatically withdrawn from view. Still, from an optics point of view, having the note disappear so quickly added to the perception that something unusual was happening.
However, not all of the accounts promoting the interview were MAGA, and there were a few liberal-leaning accounts that shared a clip of the interview before it aired. This broader mix makes it hard to say definitively whether the early push was strategic or spontaneous.
Questions About Transparency Rules
As users on X noticed the large number of posts about the ’60 Minutes’ segment featuring Coplan, some flagged the volume as unusual and suggested there was a coordinated push to promote the Polymarket app.
Some users accused those posting about the app of failing to disclose that they were being paid to promote it. Before the Community Note was taken down on Loomer’s post, there was a link to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) “Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers,” which explains that influencers who work with brands to recommend or endorse products must make it clear that they have a “material connection” to the brand.
According to the FTC, a disclosure is required, “…when you have any financial, employment, personal, or family relationship with a brand.” What does that mean for those accounts that shared what some X users interpreted as promotional posts about Polymarket? Not much, if they were sharing their own opinion and no money had changed hands.
Based on a review of the posts in question that reference Polymarket, none of them include clear sponsorship language (#ad, #sponsored, etc.), and the individuals involved have not publicly confirmed any affiliation or payment.
What we know today is that Polymarket reached number one on the free sports app chart, which occurred shortly after receiving national television exposure and numerous social media posts about the brand. Whether any of the influencers involved in promoting the interview received compensation or other incentives for doing so remains unknown. Without any evidence, claims of paid promotion are speculative and unverified.
CasinoBeats reached out to Polymarket for comment and will update if we receive a response.
