No, not today. No, that’s enough. No, maybe later.
So for my daughter’s 7th birthday, I decided to try something different. I decided to give her a “Yes day” and say yes to whatever request and desire she had, within resonable boundaries.
I first heard about it years ago, before I became a mom. A good friend told me about an annual tradition in their home called “Kids in charge day,” where her children picked the meals, the outings, and the flow of the day.
At the time, I had questions. What if they ask for something unrealistic? What if it gets out of hand?
She told me something I didn’t fully appreciate then, but that has stayed with me ever since: kids aren’t as impressed with extravagance. What they want is attention, time, and a sense that their voice matters.
We introduced the idea when our daughter was 4, and it quickly became one of her favorite traditions. So this year, we made it her birthday gift, something she already loved, arriving right on time.
I set boundaries, but kept them simple
“Yes” doesn’t mean anything goes. For us, it meant choices that were safe, local, and doable within the day. My daughter didn’t need endles options. She needed the opportuity to make her own choices.
The author set the boundaries for her daughter’s “yes day.”
Courtesy of the author
I let her lead, even when it was uncomforable
Her first request was breakfast: a cream cheese bagel. Easy.
Then came her outfit: red heart socks, faded floral print pants, and an old pink shirt. Something I would’ve picked out for play or painting, not a birthday outing.
I almost redirected her, but stopped short. “Is that what you want to wear?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said, beaming. Confidence is built in moments when kids get to trust their own thinking without being corrected.
The small things seemed to matter most
We headed to National Harbor, just outside of D.C., where she planned to build a bear using gift cards she’d been saving.
When we pulled up, I asked if I could grab a coffee before we got started. “Yes!” she shouted, delighted. That moment surprised me. She wasn’t just receiving the yes. She was learning how to give it.
We wandered into a Black-owned bookstore, hand in hand. She picked out a chapter book. Then, just as excitedly, she grabbed a “Gracie’s Corner”book, a series she used to love as a toddler and one I was almost certain she’d outgrown.
I almost said no again. Then I remembered the assignment. “Yes. And yes.”
I enjoyed watching what she did with the freedom
At Build-A-Bear, she made thoughtful choices. She picked the birthday bear that cost as much as her age so she could spend more on accessories, instead of choosing a more expensive plush that would eat into her budget. I’m not surprised though, my girl loves to save a coin.
By midday, it was “yes, yes, yes.” A candy shop stop. A few treats. There was an ice cream counter inside, and after trying a few flavors, she decided on her own to wait until after lunch.
No prompting. No correction. Just her own good judgment. She felt trusted in the moment and rose to the occasion.
I needed to stretch my comfort too
Later, she asked to ride the Capital Wheel. She was ready. I was not.
Her dad had joined us by then, and they walked hand in hand toward the oversized Ferris wheel while I followed a few steps behind, snapping photos. At the ticket booth, my husband asked for three tickets.
The author joined her daughter and spouse on a ferris wheel even though she’s afraid of heights.
Courtesy of the author
“Wait, Mom, you’re doing this?!” she asked. I took a breath. “Yes.” She squealed.
Sometimes a “Yes Day” isn’t just about your child. It’s about saying yes to yourself, too. To your own confidence and courage. I know my fear of heights is irrational, but in that moment it felt very real. I was, and still am, proud of myself for pushing through.
She reminded me I deserve yeses too
At the nail salon I typically visit solo, she was treated like royalty. Apple juice in a bejeweled glass. Chocolates at checkout. A cascade of bubbles as we left. We stopped next door at a craft store and picked up stickers and bookmarks.
And then, near the end of the day, she surprised me. She asked if we could go to the makeup store to get something for me. I reminded her it was her day, not mine.
“Yes, but I want to share it with you, Mama.”
That night, we ordered cheeseburgers and fries and sat around the table, her legs swinging as she recapped her favorite parts of the day. Proud. Confident. Already just a little bit bigger.
In that moment, my friend’s words came back to me. A “Yes Day” isn’t about indulgence. It’s about intention. It gives your child space to make decisions, feel heard, and trust their voice.
The goal isn’t just to say yes for a day. It’s to raise kids who know how to use their voice for a lifetime.
The Ipswich Town Tractor Boys gear traveled across the Atlantic before I snuck it onto my then-infant son, just before my husband arrived home. Adorable photos of the drool-covered shirt followed, sent back across the pond to Ipswich, England, the epicenter of my father-in-law’s family.
It was a reason to connect — one that wouldn’t have happened without our family’s shared love of country and capturing moments that remind us of one another.
The onesie spurred a different reaction when my Belgian grandmother and father saw their pride and joy, the one and only baby wearing the colors of an English football club. “The English?! He should be wearing Red Devil red!” exclaimed my grandmother, with a delivery that bordered on genuine betrayal.
Becoming a parent made me see these interactions between family members as long-lasting connections and pivotal memories, not just silly quips at a sporting event.
Motherhood changed my perspective
By the time of the Women’s World Cup later that summer, a lighthearted rivalry had formed (Belgium didn’t even qualify that year, but that didn’t simmer my family’s bubbling pride). My 4’5″, 80-pound grandmother had outsize opinions about every decision on the pitch.
The author says the World Cup will let her son experience all his heritage.
Courtesy of the author
Cheering my grandfather on at years of weekend games, she wielded words capable of besting anyone’s strongest kick. Other countless memories help fill the multi-year gaps between tournaments, like my grandmother and father-in-law’s sheepish chuckles and simultaneous “santé!” and “cheers!” as glasses chinked. Or the audible disbelief at a call that was simply unjust to everyone on the pitch. And, all the proud comments about my son’s various traits as evidence of his Belgian or English heritage.
In stark contrast, I can’t tell you a thing about prior World Cups. I likely passively watched, enjoying the game, but not for the reasons that matter now.
Multigenerational moments are fleeting
I became a mom, and suddenly the moments on screen were truly part of the background; I was watching the moments in the room.
Motherhood has made me keenly aware of these fleeting multi-generation interactions and how readily they slip away without intention. My dear grandmother died in 2024. I will miss her elegant outrage at the ref’s calls and the players’ decisions. I know my Dad will represent Belgium in this year’s World Cup, complete with a click of the tongue and an exasperated sigh, unwittingly echoing my grandmother’s to a tee.
The author says multigenerational moments in her family are fleeting.
Courtesy of the author
Add in shared culture, country-themed snacks, and friendly competition, and you have cherished memories in the making. I daydream about my rambunctious toddler dashing into the yard to greet his grandfathers, surprising them in his Belgium, England, or even US kit. Jeers will be hurled based on his selection, but so will love and enthusiasm.
The World Cup is a time to connect with our heritage
For my children, this summer is a rare at-home immersion into the cultures that define their grandfathers and of which their great-grandmother was deeply proud.
I imagine US parents living abroad may experience similar feelings on Super Bowl Sunday or during March Madness, but it can’t compete with the World Cup. More than 100 games spread over six-ish weeks extends the tradition, winning it the title of my favorite sporting event — an admittedly unexpected statement for an American (who grew up watching the Super Bowl).
This World Cup will ground my children in family legacy, strengthen connections in the present, and create memories and shared interests for the future.
Courtesy of the author
Unlike a book or photos, the stadium’s palpable energy, chants and songs, and the homemade family recipes at watch parties make culture easy to grasp — no matter how small the tiny hands. My son will experience why one side of the family wears black, yellow, and red, and the other red and blue, knowing he can feel at home in each.
This will be the first time my son sees Belgium and England play in the World Cup, heightening the rivalry and making the experience more tangible.
The further Belgium, England, the US, (or any other team for which we have a smidgen of affinity) make it, the longer the family connections and memory-making magic — that’s what I’m in it for.
Christina Nicolson’s 10-year-old son started his first business with a vending machine.
Courtesy of Christina Nicolson
Christina Nicolson is the mother of 11-year-old Landon Nicholson. They live in Wellington, Florida.
Landon approached her about starting a vending machine business over a year ago.
Christina, a business owner herself, shares what it’s been like so far.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Christina Nicholson, the mother of Landon Nicholson. It has been edited for length and clarity.
My son, Landon, and I own a vending machine together. We started when he was 10, over a year ago. Landon got the idea for his vending machine business at one of his sister’s basketball games. He was helping at the concession stand during a Wellington Wolves tournament and started noticing just how many people wanted snacks and drinks.
That was the moment the lightbulb went off. First, he wanted to have a candy store, and I said, “Let’s start smaller.”
I’m a business owner, so I was game to do it
Landon has always wanted to make his own money. Maybe it’s because he’s seen me do it; I started my own media company right after he was born. He’s always seen me be my own boss and seen the flexibility that comes with that. To start, we got a book and watched some YouTube videos to learn about it.
First, we had to find a spot for it. He was taking acting lessons at our community center during the summer, and he went to the front desk and asked if they had a vending machine. They said that they used to, but didn’t anymore. He said, “Do you want one? That’s my business.”
They gave him the contact person, and we set up a meeting with the village of Wellington. We put together a proposal that included what we’d put in there and how much we would sell it for, and they okayed it. They had a contract. The agreement was that 26% of the commission would go to them, and Landon and I would split the profits 50/50.
In September of 2024, we bought a vending machine for $1,500 and had it shipped for $843. We also purchased a credit card reader for $385, bought $265 worth of items from Costco, and put $17 in change in the machine to start.
We’re still in the hole, but have learned some important lessons
The community center is not very busy. We’re not splitting profits yet, but I still think it’s been worthwhile.
A big lesson for him was that just because you make money, it doesn’t mean it’s your money. For example, the first time we went to the vending machine to get money, he was so excited to have all the dollar bills. But I told him that we had to pay the machine off, that 26% goes to the village of Wellington for letting us put our machine in there, and so on. He quickly learned the difference between revenue and profit.
He was also very excited at the beginning of this to go and check on it once a week. He liked to see what needed filling up, what people were liking, and so on. Now, he’s not as excited to go. He still enjoys doing it, but that initial excitement has worn off.
I’m being patient with him
Sometimes, you just have to be patient. We’re almost there. I encourage him to review the numbers every month; I’ll print out the P&L for him to see. He’s very impatient, but I remind him that to make a business work, you have to work.
He’s learning different business models, how much time they take, and how busy you are going to be. This has been good because of his age; he goes to the community center and checks on it once a week for 15 minutes. He also likes to see what’s working. He still asks me every once in a while if he’s making money yet.
I wasn’t expecting his confidence. It really impressed me. He walked right up to the community center’s front desk, asked if they wanted a vending machine, and came home with a business card. I love that he’s not afraid. I think this experience will help him with the confidence to start more businesses.
We had a great time on our recent European trip, but learned a few lessons we’ll keep in mind next time.
Chrissy Callahan
I traveled to the UK, the Netherlands, and France during my recent European vacation.
I planned a packed itinerary, and was pleasantly surprised that I fit so much into eight days.
That said, I wish I’d booked our hotels sooner and done research into customs and security.
Ever since my first trip to France at 18, I’ve been enamored with Europe.
Don’t get me wrong, I love exploring the US, but there’s something about leaving the country that helps me dive into vacation mode quickly, since I’m an ocean away from life’s daily stressors.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, I started feeling a familiar itch to travel abroad, so we visited France together two years ago. The following year, we upped the ante and headed to two countries: France and Italy.
When it came time to plan our annual vacation this year, I proposed our most ambitious one yet — three European countries in eight days with a travel day tacked onto both ends — then mapped out a whirlwind itinerary that included two full days in London and two and a half days in both Amsterdam and Paris.
It was an adventure of a lifetime, and we packed so much into a short period of time. Still, I made a few mistakes and learned several important lessons along the way.
I didn’t do enough research on security and customs protocol
I could’ve gotten to Paris more quickly if I’d done a bit more research.
Chrissy Callahan
When we traveled from London to Amsterdam on the Eurostar train, it took an hour to get through airport-level security and customs. Since I anticipated a similar experience traveling from Amsterdam to Paris, we arrived at the train station extra early, but there was no security checkpoint.
This minor mistake only cost us an hour of wasted time, but I regretted it. I could’ve hopped on an earlier train to Paris had I known that traveling from one EU country to another is a lot easier than entering the European Union from the United Kingdom.
With a tight itinerary, minutes and hours matter, so I learned to pay more attention to security requirements during the planning stage.
I waited too long to book one of my hotels
We loved Amsterdam, but ended up staying farther from the city center than we would have liked to.
Chrissy Callahan
When looking into Amsterdam hotels, I found one in the city center, right near the main train station. I usually book things well in advance, but this time, I took a gamble and waited to see if the prices would drop.
By the time I went to book my preferred hotel, no rooms were available for my travel dates. As it turns out, there were a few big events in town that week, so rooms filled up quickly.
I’ve had luck finding last-minute deals on Booking.com before, so I took a look and booked another hotel that was a quick train ride away from the city center. Everything worked out, but the experience taught me to always research whether there are major events going on in a city when you’re traveling.
After all, you can always book the hotel when you see it, then cancel the reservation and rebook it if prices drop.
I learned you can’t see everything in one trip, and you don’t have to
We visited the Heineken Experience in honor of my dad, who loved the beer.
Chrissy Callahan
When you only have a few days in a city, you’re forced to home in on the must-see items on your bucket list rather than seeing every major tourist attraction. For instance, my husband and I aren’t into art, so we usually skip art museums and seek out cool architecture, beautiful gardens, and meaningful experiences.
When we first started charting our own course on vacation rather than letting the fear of missing out guide us, we worried that we might regret seeing some of the major sights. But we quickly realized that it’s freeing to pick and choose the activities that matter most to you.
In Amsterdam, we could’ve seen the Anne Frank House since it’s a popular tourist spot. Instead, we spent an afternoon at the Heineken Experience in honor of my late father, who adored Heineken.
I don’t drink beer, but it was still incredibly rewarding to enjoy an experience that he never got to have himself.
Walking is often the best way to see a city — but don’t be a hero
London was lovely, but the weather was rainier and windier than we’d expected.
Chrissy Callahan
Whenever I travel, I prefer to see new cities on foot rather than spending time (and money) on public transportation.
Since we only had two days in London, my husband and I took the scenic route to Kensington Palace and walked an hour from our hotel.
On a nice day, it would’ve been a lovely walk through a gorgeous park, but London’s weather is unpredictable. It ended up being rainier and windier than we’d expected, making the stroll pretty miserable.
Sure, we could’ve popped into the nearest train station, but the intermittent rain lulled us into a false sense of security. Next time, I’ll hop on a train instead, even if it means missing out on seeing a pretty park.
Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” debuts in theaters on July 17.
Universal Pictures
Movie theaters are on a comeback tour.
Gen Z and millennials are driving ticket sales, seeing an average of seven films a year.
AMC’s CEO said “The Odyssey” had the highest first-day ticket sales of any studio release since 2022.
Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” is already breaking records, and it hasn’t hit theaters yet.
In an X post on Friday, AMC CEO Adam Aron said “The Odyssey” recorded the company’s “highest first-day ticket sales for any studio-released movie title since 2022.”
“My apologies if you encountered a long ticketing line on the AMC web site and app yesterday,” Aron said.
“The Odyssey,” based on Homer’s Greek epic poem, has seen worldwide excitement since Universal Pictures announced the film adaptation in late 2024. The film’s trailer raked in over 120 million views in its first 24 hours, in part due to the star-studded cast.
Matt Damon helms the film as Odysseus, while fans can also expect to see Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattison, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Charlize Theron, Mia Goth, Lupita Nyong’o, and more.
“The Odyssey” comes three years after Nolan struck cinematic gold with “Oppenheimer,” which won seven Academy Awards and became a pop culture phenomenon alongside Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.”
“The Odyssey” debuts on July 17, but the build-up around ticket sales has been long in the making. In an unusual decision, IMAX announced that it would sell tickets for select screens and showtimes a year in advance. Fans who missed the first ticket drop had another opportunity on Thursday with advanced tickets for premium large-format showtimes.
Largest Screens On Sale Tomorrow at 9am PT / 12pm ET. Experience The Odyssey shot entirely with IMAX film cameras in theaters 07.17.26. pic.twitter.com/9c7Bqxxi95
On X, Aron said the only AMC releases to outpace “The Odyssey” were driven by two musical juggernauts: Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.
“Ironically, the only first-day AMC ticket sales results since 2022 that topped The Odyssey were for our very own music-oriented projects from our own AMC Theatres Distribution, namely first-day ticket sales for the Renaissance concert film from Beyonce in 2023 and our two Taylor Swift efforts in 2023 and again in 2025,” Aron said.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic and the streaming revolution dealt a harsh blow to movie theater attendance, it’s on the rebound. A Fandango report published in April said Gen Zers and millennials were driving momentum at movie theaters, spending more money and time compared to other generations.
The report said a good slate of films in 2025, the desire for out-of-the-home experiences, and social opportunities drove Gen Zers toward the movies. Both Gen Z and millennials saw an average of seven films in 2025.
“For Gen Z, it is a form of social gathering. For Millennials, it is an escape from daily routine,” the report said.
AMC has seen the boost firsthand. On Monday, the company said more than 25 million people attended its theaters in May, marking the highest May attendance since 2019.
“These immensely satisfying results reflect the strength of a diverse film slate, one that was driven both by established blockbusters with their well-known characters along with entirely new IP,” Aron said in a press release. “This current measure of success, combined with the many compelling movies coming to our screens in the weeks and months ahead, gives us great confidence as we look to the rest of 2026.”
Influencers hyped Polymarket’s ability to predict events without disclosing they were paid.
Illustration by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Polymarket paid high-profile influencers hundreds of thousands to promote its prediction market.
Those influencers, however, never disclosed that they were being paid.
Polymarket CMO Matthew Modabber paid the creators using a personal PayPal account, POLITICO found.
When far-right influencer Nick Shirley posted a viral video in January alleging fraud at Minnesota daycares, he showed his 1.6 million followers on X something else too: a gray hoodie emblazoned with the Polymarket logo.
Polymarket had made other appearances in the 24-year-old’s content, like in a series of man-on-the-street interviews about the “current state of America” posted in December.
The first post came after Shirley began receiving money from Polymarket’s chief marketing officer, Matthew Modabber. The second came after he had taken in a total of $3,100 from Modabber, according to records reviewed by POLITICO.
This daycare “Creative Minds Daycare” was SHUTDOWN and then reopened the next day under the name “Super Kids Daycare” they received $2,450,000 in 2025.
According to the DHS license website “Creative minds daycare” was closed on October 1, 2025 and the SAME day “Super kids” was… pic.twitter.com/07yfM6FI3y
Modabber, who once wrote that the key to growth is “a product people can’t shut up about,” was putting his money where his mouth is. The Polymarket executive used a personal PayPal account to send at least $350,000 to Shirley and other content creators between January 2025 and February 2026, an analysis of the transactions shows.
That sum is almost certainly an undercount. Modabber used his personal PayPal account, which is registered to an email for a salad spot he cofounded, to send over $2.5 million to more than 800 people during the 14-month span, the analysis shows. POLITICO independently verified the identities of about two dozen content creators who received money from Modabber by using public records and analyzing their social media accounts.
At least 20 of the content creators identified by POLITICO promoted Polymarket on social media after they began receiving money from Modabber, according to payment records and POLITICO’s analysis of their social media activity. During the 14-month span reflected in the payment records, they posted about Polymarket at least 490 times on the social media platform X without clearly disclosing a paid partnership. The analysis of payment records and concurrent social posts highlights the company’s under-the-radar campaign to generate buzz in the political world around the highly controversial prediction market.
Among those paid: conservative influencer Alex LoRusso, progressive political commentator Brian Krassenstein, and Riley Gaines, a collegiate swimmer-turned-Fox News contributor who has campaigned against trans women competing in women’s sports.
The PayPal transaction records were shown to POLITICO by a person with access to the data. They were granted anonymity for fear of retribution.
A Polymarket spokesperson told POLITICO the partnerships with influencers were part of its standard business practices.
“We routinely collaborate with a diverse range of independent organizations, partners, and content creators spanning the political spectrum and constantly monitor, evaluate our progress, and make the necessary adjustments in order to achieve our core mission of providing the most accurate, transparent, and data-driven market insights to a global audience,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson declined to answer questions on the company’s strategy for partnering with influencers, its policies for disclosing those deals on social media, why Modabber used a personal account for the transactions, and whether the payments were reported as business expenses to the IRS.
Modabber did not respond to requests for comment.
Led by 28-year-old CEO Shayne Coplan, Polymarket has primarily functioned outside the US since Wall Street regulators banned it for operating without a license in 2022. But the company — which offers users the chance to bet on US elections, the Super Bowl, and even the Iran war — has seen its trading volumes skyrocket since President Donald Trump’s reelection in 2024, as prediction markets have entered the mainstream.
Trump’s administration faces mounting pressure to rein in prediction market platforms like Polymarket and its main competitor, Kalshi, over insider trading concerns. But the president, whose son Donald Trump Jr. is an investor in Polymarket and a paid advisor to Kalshi, has taken a mostly laissez-faire approach. Trump’s administration dropped a pair of investigations into the company last summer, effectively clearing the way for Polymarket to re-enter the US market by acquiring a federally regulated exchange. Last week, he attacked several blue state leaders who have sought to regulate the platforms, saying it’s “critically important” the federal government takes the lead and that the companies “will thrive.”
As the policy debate over prediction markets plays out, Polymarket is harnessing influencers’ massive online audiences to turn itself into a household name. On X, the influencers trumpet claims about Polymarket’s accuracy, whether it’s predicting the outcome of the New York City mayoral election in 2025 or the exact date when a government shutdown would end — all while failing to mention the company’s role in bankrolling their posts. In many of their posts, Polymarket is framed as an authoritative source, and viewers may never realize they’re scrolling past sponsored content.
“People are not consciously thinking about whether an influencer is profiting every time they see a post,” said Renée DiResta, author of a book about social media propagandists, “Invisible Rulers,” and a Georgetown University professor who studies influence in the digital age.
The Federal Trade Commission says social media influencers have a responsibility to disclose any “material connection” to products they endorse, but the agency did not respond to questions about how those rules apply to posts about prediction markets.
None of the X posts made during the records’ 14-month timeframe included disclosures that they were part of paid promotions, POLITICO found. The platform rolled out the ability to label posts as paid promotions on March 1, though an X spokesperson said clear disclosures like “ad” or “sponsored” were always required in commercial posts.
“It sounds like this would be the type of thing that generally should be disclosed,” Robin Moore, former deputy general counsel for the FTC, said in an interview.
Kalshi has been known to partner with online content creators, too, underscoring the importance of social media to prediction market companies’ growth strategies. Last year, Kalshi hired a cryptocurrency influencer to lead its digital assets efforts, and it has partnered with social media influencers to boost its profile with sports fans and women.
“Everybody was either Polymarket or Kalshi,” said one social media influencer paid by Polymarket, who was granted anonymity because they feared retribution. “Kalshi and Polymarket, they literally at some point owned all big influencers.”
The influencer, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on X, said they received thousands of dollars from Polymarket to post about the company since 2024.
Kalshi spokesperson Elisabeth Diana declined to comment for this report.
‘Cannot be faked’
In May 2024, Shane Ginsberg asked passersby in Atlanta: “Trump or Biden?” All four people featured in the video he posted on his @shaneyyricch Instagram account expressed a preference for Trump in the upcoming presidential election against Joe Biden.
But the man-on-the-street-style interviews were not just about the election.
“I bet $5,000 on Trump to win the election,” Ginsberg tells one interviewee, as an image of Polymarket pops up on the screen. “Are you confident enough that he’ll win that you would bet?”
“Well, pull out your phone real quick,” Ginsberg responds, after the man says yes. “There’s a place called Polymarket. Polymarket.com. It’s the only place where you can bet on news, the election.”
Ginsberg was 19 at the time — old enough to vote in his first presidential election. And the self-proclaimed 8th-grade dropout had just started working with Polymarket to boost the company’s brand recognition, according to his website.
Ginsberg had started a social media marketing business called Street Poller, touting his ability to “dominate the scroll” by making videos of unscripted man-on-the-street interviews, then using a network of 50-plus content creators to boost their reach, as a Polymarket case study on his website describes it.
In some cases, Ginsberg’s fleet of interviewers didn’t even mention Polymarket. They simply wore the company’s logo on a T-shirt.
The timing couldn’t have been better.
Polymarket was paying social media influencers across the country to promote election betting in the months leading up to the presidential race. US bettors were still barred from placing wagers through Polymarket under the company’s 2022 settlement with federal regulators, but the influencers rarely mentioned that.
Ginsberg, who received at least $77,000 from Modabber over PayPal, did not respond to emails requesting comment on his work for Polymarket.
Asked about Modabber’s use of a personal PayPal account for what appear to be business transactions, a PayPal spokesperson declined to comment on specific accounts but referred POLITICO to a section of its user agreement that describes personal accounts as “primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.”
“If the activity associated with your personal account primarily involves business or commercial activity, PayPal may close your account unless you agree to cease the business or commercial activity or convert your personal account to a business,” the company’s agreement states.
In the lead-up to the election, when Polymarket users successfully wagered millions of dollars on Trump beating then-Vice President Kamala Harris to win a second term, the platform saw a surge in popularity. More than $1.5 billion traded hands on Polymarket’s wager that Trump would win, while more than $1 billion flowed behind Harris’ candidacy. One measure of monthly trading volumes on the company’s main platform jumped nearly 400% between September and October 2024, according to Dune Analytics, which tracks prediction market data.
The second Trump administration seemed to augur a friendlier regulatory environment for prediction markets after a Biden-era crackdown. Under Biden, the Justice Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission were investigating whether Polymarket was continuing to accept bets from U.S. customers, in violation of the company’s 2022 settlement. Shortly after the 2024 election, FBI agents raided the Polymarket CEO’s New York City home — a step he painted as a “last-ditch effort” by the Biden administration “to go after companies they deem to be associated with political opponents.”
Trump’s return to the White House yielded plenty of possibilities to bet on. After Trump created the slash-and-burn DOGE initiative with an executive order in January 2025, Polymarket debuted a dashboard to track all the cuts.
Influencers spread the word on X, the social media platform known as Twitter before Tesla CEO — and DOGE leader — Elon Musk bought it in 2022.
Eric Daugherty, a conservative content creator who received at least $15,000 from Modabber, according to the records reviewed by POLITICO, announced the Department of Government Efficiency dashboard’s release to his 1 million followers as a “BREAKING” update on February 14, 2025.
Riley Gaines, who was paid at least $6,600, according to the records, shared the DOGE news with well over 1 million followers on X, opining: “This is awesome!”
Conservative media personality Elijah Schaffer, who received more than $8,400, wrote “Exciting news!” in a post last February, adding that the new dashboard would “be bookmarked for the next 4 years.”
None of these posts mention being paid by Polymarket or Modabber, though in a comment on his post, Schaffer said he is a “long term brand rep” for Polymarket. “I’m not paid for this post directly and they don’t force me to say anything so it’s technically not an ad. However I do clarify we work together,” he wrote.
Daugherty, Gaines, and Schaffer did not respond to emails requesting comment on their Polymarket partnerships and whether they were paid to post about the DOGE dashboard. Months after his DOGE post, Schaffer also said on X that he partnered with Polymarket and “made some pretty solid money.”
When Polymarket inked a partnership in June with xAI, an artificial intelligence startup co-founded by Musk, paid influencers again swooped in to hype the news. Eight of the roughly two dozen influencers reviewed by POLITICO posted about the partnership on the same day, all within hours of one another.
Dominick McGee, a conservative content creator who received at least $3,200 from Modabber and was once ranked by an analytics firm as the third-most-influential user on X, wrote: “X is about to change the game with this, and it’s honestly a match made in heaven.”
“Polymarket really took over, it feels like they have always been here,” McGee, who goes by Dom Lucre on social media, wrote in another X post about the collaboration several days later. Musk and spokespeople for xAI did not respond to requests for comment.
On McGee’s website, where he touts his “media influence” as someone “delivering unfiltered truth,” he says he charges at least $2,500 to comment on a social media post and upward of $15,000 to post a “breaking” or “developing” item. McGee did not respond to requests for comment.
Modabber also sent money to two people, Debbie D’Souza and Amjed Yacu, who have substantial online followings on the right — and ties to Trump’s administration — but do not appear to have posted about Polymarket on social media. D’Souza is the wife of conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, whom Trump pardoned in 2018 following a felony campaign finance conviction; she helped write and direct Dinesh D’Souza’s 2024 documentary “Vindicating Trump” and contributes to her husband’s self-titled podcast. Yacu serves as the Defense Department’s deputy digital director and runs a far-right Instagram account called Snowflake.Tears.
D’Souza, who netted at least $20,000 from Modabber, and Yacu, who received at least $850 prior to his employment with the administration, did not respond to requests for comment.
Acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said Yacu “currently maintains no active business partnerships related to his personal social media pages” — nor would he in the future as a Defense Department employee. Valdez declined to answer a follow-up question on whether Yacu held any business partnerships related to his personal social media accounts at any point during his employment with the department.
Last summer, Trump’s administration dropped the two investigations into Polymarket. The company proceeded to spend $112 million to acquire a licensed exchange and clearinghouse, putting it well on its way to a US comeback.
“The cultural relevance and brand recognition of Polymarket is something that cannot be faked,” one person posted on X in August 2025.
Modabber shared the post on his own X account, adding, “CANNOT BE FAKED.”
Obsessed with accuracy
When former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faced off against democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in last year’s Democratic primary to become New York City’s mayor, content creators invoked Polymarket to gauge the odds of an upset.
Alexander Kaufman, a climate reporter who runs a Substack newsletter, received at least $1,200 from Moddaber. “Wild,” he wrote on X the day before the primary, including a screenshot of the platform’s trading volume on the race. “Polymarket finally has @ZohranKMamdani with pretty good odds of actually winning the primary against Andrew Cuomo.”
After Mamdani bested Cuomo to win the Democratic nomination, influencers posted about Polymarket as a kind of oracle.
Arash Azizi, a historian who writes about Iran for The Atlantic and received at least $3,000 from Moddaber, wrote in October 2025: “It’s fascinating how Polymarket numbers are a good guide for the direction of events. Before any polls, it saw the rise of Mamdani for instance!”
Neither Kauffman nor Azizi responded to requests for comment about whether they were paid to post about the mayoral election.
The paid influencers’ posts about Polymarket often drew attention to specific bets by framing betting odds as news developments. About a third of the more than 490 X posts identified by POLITICO characterized Polymarket’s odds for a given event as “BREAKING” or “NEW” updates.
They appear to be conscientious choices. The influencer, who was granted anonymity, told POLITICO that the company wrote posts for them to share on X and asked them to promote specific bets.
“They actually told us, ‘This one needs to get out now, this one needs to get out now,’ as if we were cattle,” the influencer said.
Moore, the former FTC official, said advertisers should include disclosures in any sample text they draft for their partners because they could be liable for what their endorsers say.
“As a general rule, if an endorsement is paid, the endorser needs to clearly and conspicuously disclose a material connection to the advertiser,” Moore said.
Polymarket and Kalshi have sought to cement themselves as authoritative sources on politics and current events, namely through partnerships with traditional media brands like CNN and Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal’s website now highlights a “Featured Prediction Market” from Polymarket.
Paid social media activity has been reinforcing that narrative for months, quietly sowing Polymarket’s legitimacy as it gears up for legislative battles.
As Brian Krassenstein, a progressive political commentator, put it in an October X post with no paid-promotion disclaimer: “It really is unbelievable how accurate Polymarket has been these last 9 months.”
Krassenstein, who received more than $9,300 from Modabber in the PayPal records reviewed by POLITICO, did not respond to requests for comment.
Over a two-week period in late December and early January, six influencers shared 10 posts on X about the Polymarket odds for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, facing criminal charges over allegations of day care fraud stemming from Nick Shirley’s viral videos. Later in January, six influencers posted about the odds of the US acquiring Greenland.
Alex LoRusso — a conservative influencer who received at least $18,750 from Modabber over PayPal, according to the records — was another avid X user who posted dozens of times about Polymarket without mentioning a sponsorship.
“Polymarket odds of a government shutdown are spiking with just under 10 hours to go before the deadline,” he wrote in September. “Democrats know exactly what they’re doing.”
Sometime after POLITICO reached out to LoRusso, asking if he was paid to make that post, a “paid partnership” label appeared at the bottom. LoRusso did not respond to requests for comment. Some — not all — of his Polymarket-related posts now bear that disclosure.
Sam Sutton contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared on POLITICO and is courtesy of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, which harnesses the resources of the company’s newsrooms to publish ambitious scoops, investigations, interviews, opinion pieces, and analysis. It allows journalists — including those from POLITICO, Business Insider, WELT, BILD, Onet and Fakt — to collaborate on major stories for an international audience of hundreds of millions across platforms.