GME3: X Marks the Prop, Enfants Sans Écrans & Midjourney on the Dark Side

In this week’s edition of the GME3, we’re taking a look at Polymarket’s announcement of its official partnership with X (formerly Twitter), an announcement from French President Emmanuel Macron that he intends to move towards banning social media for children under the age of 15, and a massive lawsuit filed against AI company Midjourney by Disney, Universal, and other major Hollywood studios over alleged copyright infringement. Read the full stories below!

Gambling

X Marks the Prop

Polymarket’s newly announced partnership with X (the “everything app”) as its “official prediction market partner” has raised eyebrows, particularly given the platform’s regulatory troubles in both the U.S. and Canada. Although Polymarket has technically been unavailable to U.S. users since 2022, after settling charges with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for operating an unregistered exchange, many see this X deal as a potential signal of a return. As gambling analyst Dustin Gouker noted, a U.S. comeback could be more feasible under a Trump-led administration.

In Ontario, however, Polymarket faces more concrete legal barriers. Earlier this year, its parent companies agreed to pay a $200,000 penalty to the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) for violating a provincial ban on short-term binary options. The OSC also issued a two-year ban on the company from trading securities or derivatives. The OSC’s binary options ban prohibits yes/no bets on future outcomes with terms under 30 days – precisely the type of market Polymarket offers.

While prediction markets like Kalshi are gaining momentum in the U.S., Ontario’s regulated iGaming environment – now with more than 50 licensed operators – has largely excluded this trend. This may benefit consumers by minimizing confusion about what’s legal and what isn’t. For now, it remains unclear what, if anything, Polymarket’s partnership with X will mean for Ontario users.

Media

Enfants Sans Écrans

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France may move to ban social media access for children under 15 if the European Union does not act quickly on broader digital protections for minors. While Greece, with backing from France and Spain, is pushing for EU-wide limits on teen screen time, Macron said national action can’t wait. His remarks followed the fatal stabbing of a school staff member, which prompted renewed focus on youth safety and online influence.

“If the EU doesn’t move, we will,” Macron said in a televised interview, adding that platforms have the tools to verify users’ ages and should be using them. He later posted on X, confirming: “I’m banning social media for children under 15.”

Macron also announced that France will soon require age verification for online knife sales, mirroring similar controls already in place for other restricted products. Prime Minister François Bayrou said he wants to quickly ban all knife sales to minors.

French authorities are working to expand age verification requirements for platforms like X, Reddit, Bluesky, and Mastodon, pressuring tech companies to better control access by underage users. While the timeline for enforcement isn’t clear, Macron’s message is: France won’t wait for consensus if youth safety is on the line.

Entertainment

Midjourney on the Dark Side

Disney, Universal, and other major Hollywood studios have filed a lawsuit against AI company Midjourney, accusing it of mass copyright infringement through its image-generating tools. The complaint, filed in Los Angeles federal court, alleges that Midjourney enables users to easily create realistic images of famous characters like Darth Vader, Shrek, Wall-E, and Spider-Man by simply typing in prompts – effectively reproducing copyrighted content without permission.

The studios argue that Midjourney has trained its AI on copyrighted material scraped from across the internet and “cleaned” those files to teach its system how to generate lookalike outputs. They claim the company knowingly promotes this content, highlighting its visibility in Midjourney’s public “Explore” section. The lawsuit includes side-by-side comparisons of copyrighted characters and AI-generated images as evidence.

According to the plaintiffs, Midjourney could implement technical safeguards to prevent infringement, but has chosen not to. Instead, the lawsuit frames Midjourney’s business model as profiting from unauthorized reproductions, with Disney’s general counsel stating bluntly: “Piracy is piracy.”

This marks a significant legal escalation in the growing conflict between entertainment giants and AI firms. Unlike some media companies that have licensed content to AI platforms, Disney and Universal are taking a hardline stance. The case could set a precedent for how copyright law applies to generative AI tools and how far creative rights extend in the age of machine-made media.