Polymarket bans accounts after threats against Israeli journalist
Polymarket said it had banned accounts and would share information with authorities after an Israeli journalist received threats and harassment from people allegedly trying to pressure him into changing a report tied to a high-stakes market on the platform.
“Polymarket condemns the harassment & threats directed at Emanuel Fabian — or anyone else for that matter,” the prediction market platform said in a statement on Monday. “This behavior violates our Terms of Service & has no place on our platform. We’ve banned the accounts for all involved & will pass their info to the relevant authorities.”
Polymarket is a cryptocurrency-based prediction market platform where anonymous users place bets on the outcome of real-world events, including elections, wars, sports and financial developments. Markets on the site typically resolve based on public reporting and predefined rules.
Fabian wrote in The Times of Israel that the threats began after he reported on March 10 that an Iranian missile had struck an open area near Beit Shemesh, outside Jerusalem.
He said people then began contacting him by email, social media, Discord and WhatsApp, insisting that what fell was interceptor debris rather than a missile and pressing him to change the report.
According to Fabian, the effort to pressure him was tied to a Polymarket market asking whether Iran would strike Israel on March 10.
The market now shows about $17 million in trading volume, with the dispute centered on whether a missile or drone struck Israeli soil or was intercepted before impact.
Fabian said some of the messages included fabricated screenshots, demands that he update his reporting and, later, death threats and references to his family and home area. He said one person warned that gamblers stood to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars if the report was not changed.
“You have two choices: either believe that we have the capabilities, and after you make us lose $900,000 we will invest no less than that to finish you. Or end this with money in your pocket, and also earn back the life you had until now,” one of the threatening messages said.
Fabian said he later contacted police, gave testimony and provided evidence, and that police have opened an investigation.
“The attempt by these gamblers to pressure me to change my reporting so that they would win their bet did not and will not succeed,” Fabian said. “But I do worry that other journalists may not be as ethical if they are promised some of the winnings.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
