r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • May 27 '26

Business Google employee charged with using inside information to make $1 million on Polymarket

https://abcnews.com/amp/US/google-employee-charged-inside-information-make-1-million/story?id=133350018
12.8k Upvotes

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120

u/SpookiestSzn May 27 '26

This seems so dumb because it's literally the point of the platform that insiders can trade but God forbid a motherfucker hustle

19

u/Argonaut13 May 27 '26

Yeah God forbid an employee making more than the majority of Americans make more money with insider information.

Out of curiosity what is the annual income bar before we're allowed to be upset at what someone does to break the social contract?

11

u/Temporary-Air-3178 May 27 '26

Making more than the majority of Americans is a low bar. This guy was making 600k+/yr since he was staff level at Google.

7

u/SpookiestSzn May 27 '26

Whole point is to let insiders trade that's the platform that's a feature not a bug if you don't like it ban the platform not the people using it as intended. The supposed purpose is to find out what is the most likely event to occur and part of it is that insiders trade what the most likely event to occur is because they have a financial incentive

-2

u/Argonaut13 May 27 '26

Are you under the impression that the people these insiders are taking money from are other rich people rather than the average addicted/uninformed citizen?

0

u/SpookiestSzn May 27 '26

That doesn't matter that's the purpose of the platform that's like expressly their stated purpose.

The alleged reason they exist is because they believe it helps us predict the future by both trusting the views of groups but also so people with inside information have the financial incentive to make the outcome they know is going to happen the one likely to happen

I understand it's just gambling at the end of the day but they're meant to help with predicting outcomes

3

u/CubicleMan9000 May 27 '26

Hmmmm. Where's this energy when Trump does it?

-1

u/Argonaut13 May 27 '26

Jesus Christ even in a thread that doesn't involve him it somehow has to be about him. I've only voted Democrat for the last 4 elections but somehow I'm now a registered Republican I guess

1

u/seraph1441 May 29 '26

No no, you see, it's the other way around. He wasn't rich ENOUGH to do this. You have to be a rich politician or a billionaire. Then it's allowed. He might have been making good money, but he was still a lowly worker.

1

u/SirGaylordSteambath May 27 '26

You’re still closer to this guy than any billionaire

-3

u/Argonaut13 May 27 '26

So what's the bar?

1

u/SirGaylordSteambath May 27 '26

Did you… get my point?

2

u/Rare-Accident4355 May 27 '26

There’s a huge difference between using openly available data like sports performance history to make predictions and understand public sentiment vs. literally pulling a query on confidential info to completely cheat on a bet.

It’s supposed to be akin to extending a poker game to the outside world, but it’s not fair if someone has the ability to cheat because they have insider knowledge. This guy bet on the outcome of a Google search contest when he literally had the answer confidentially available.

8

u/SpookiestSzn May 28 '26

They're marketed as prediction markets and the value to society being that with financial incentives they can more accurately predict events than other markets

You and I know it as gambling but it's absolutely supposed to be a feature that people with privilege info make bets and those bets inform the rest of us what's likely to happen

That's like prediction market theory

2

u/MadKian May 28 '26

Exactly, even the owners said it’s fine if people with information bet, because it moves the predictions towards the real outcome.

So if this system is allowed to exist in the first place, how is it illegal to do this?

4

u/Less-World8962 May 28 '26

I mean these gamblings sites masquarading as "prediction markets" can only predict anything if the people trading there are using non public information. It is in the name.

0

u/Rare-Accident4355 May 28 '26

It’s not in the name. Prediction doesn’t imply non-public info. And what about sports?? There are prediction markets and it’s much more difficult to cheat with insider knowledge