Overview
- A Massachusetts judge declared a mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy case after a 12-person jury remained deadlocked 11-1 following roughly 30 hours of deliberation, a decision reported on Friday.
- Influencer Amanda Hirsch posted a sponsored Polymarket message saying the platform had “predicted the verdict would be Not Guilty,” deleted the post after swift backlash, and published an apology with comments turned off.
- Critics called the branded content insensitive and urged Hirsch to redirect sponsorship payments to maternal mental-health causes, while screenshots of the deleted post continued to circulate online.
- Online users spawned unverified conspiracy theories suggesting a juror might have bet on prediction markets, a claim that reporters describe as developing and not proven.
- Polymarket and similar prediction platforms face renewed criticism because they operate with limited regulation and have previously published outcome-linked markets that spoiled entertainment results, raising questions about oversight and industry practices.