Polymarket is facing some serious backlash right now. They recently resolved a prediction market about whether TikTok would be banned in the U.S. The result? They said "Yes." This decision has sparked outrage among users who feel manipulated.

The market, titled “TikTok banned in the US before May 2025?”, had a trading volume of $120 million. It focused on whether TikTok would actually be banned before May 2025. On January 19, the ban went into effect, and TikTok warned users that the app would no longer be available. The Biden administration justified this move, claiming that ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, posed a significant threat to national security.

But just a day later, TikTok announced it would remain accessible for another 75 days. President Donald Trump intervened, pausing the ban to negotiate with ByteDance. This led to confusion. Many Polymarket users argued that TikTok wasn’t really banned since it was still working for most Americans.

One user, Sky, pointed out, “The ban didn’t happen, and TikTok is working fine for most Americans. Trump gave it an extension literally live. So why is it 99% Yes?” Another user, silkroad69, defended the platform, saying, “A law banning TikTok was created and took effect on Jan. 19. The market never said anything about temporary extensions.” However, Spot, another bettor, called the decision “disgusting” and labeled Polymarket a “scam.”

In response to the uproar, a petition has emerged, demanding accountability for what users see as manipulation in the TikTok market vote. However, it has gathered fewer than 100 signatures so far.

Polymarket uses UMA’s Optimistic Oracle (OO) to resolve its prediction markets. This system provides initial outcomes for disputes, which can escalate to UMA’s Data Verification Mechanism (DVM) if there are challenges. In this case, the DVM process was skipped, leading to direct resolution as “Yes” and fueling the accusations of manipulation.

This isn’t the first time Polymarket has faced criticism. Back in May 2024, users challenged UMA’s resolution on an Ethereum ETF prediction market. And in June 2024, a market about Barron Trump’s alleged involvement in a memecoin caused outrage when Polymarket overruled UMA’s resolution and refunded bettors.

Now, Polymarket is reportedly seeking $50 million in funding to improve its operations. They plan to introduce tokens that would allow users to validate outcomes. Cointelegraph reached out to Polymarket for a comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.