The Verge · Terrence O'Brien ·

Google says Polymarket bets "briefly appeared in Google News in error", after the bets appeared alongside news articles in the "For You" section

Links to bets on world events were appearing alongside legitimate news organizations.

Google says Polymarket bets "briefly appeared in Google News in error", after the bets appeared alongside news articles in the "For You" section

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Google Says Polymarket Listings in Google News Were a Bug

Prediction market bets on real-world events accidentally surfaced alongside legitimate news sources in Google News.

Google confirmed that Polymarket betting listings appearing in Google News was a mistake. The prediction market's wagers on real-world events were never supposed to show up there.

Links to Polymarket bets were surfacing right alongside content from legitimate news organizations, blurring the line between journalism and gambling odds. Google has acknowledged the error and indicated the listings weren't intentional.

Polymarket operates as a prediction market where users place bets on the outcomes of real-world events — everything from elections to geopolitical developments. Having those betting pages indexed and displayed in a news product is a pretty significant quality control miss for Google.

The company hasn't detailed exactly how the prediction market content slipped through its filters or how long the listings were visible before the issue was caught.