Polymarket and Kalshi say that influential partners cannot deny the election results in reality

While the United States is heading to Particularly controversial midterm election season, Prediction markets They have already had problems with political commentators who pay them to promote their programs. Both Kalshi and Polymarket have asked influencers to remove “paid partnership” tags on social media posts questioning the results of the Los Angeles mayoral election, the platforms confirmed to WIRED.

With former conservative reality TV star Spencer Pratt falling to third place behind Karen Bass and current City Councilor Nithya Raman, several popular right-wing creatives have made posts casting doubt on the race. In one post, a MAGA influencer known as Gunter Egelmann, who has more than 1.7 million followers, suggested that Brat’s opponents were “stealing” the election. Kalshi asked the creators to remove the posts last Friday in the name of Semaphore Reported for the first time.

The company does not publicly disclose its contracts with paid partners, but Calci’s rules specifically prohibit affiliates from questioning the integrity or accuracy of official election results and legal rulings made in connection with the election. “These are internal policies to guide our affiliates and partners, and they include standards around promoting and marketing Calcium Markets in elections,” company spokesperson Danny Lever told WIRED.

Meanwhile, Polymarket has asked two creators to remove paid partnership tags from posts critical of the election results, including a post from right-wing influencer Penny Johnson suggesting that the reason Raman’s odds on Polymarket have improved is because “the public has so little confidence in the California election that they assume Democrats will rig it in a big way.” Johnson’s post was flagged as paid content from June 4 until June 8, when the partnership tag was removed.

Johnson did not respond to requests for comment. No new Polymarket content has been posted since the takedown.

“Our current marketing guidelines expressly prohibit affiliates from providing misleading or false information, and we will continue to monitor and ensure compliance by our paid contributors,” Olivia Chalos, deputy chief legal officer at Polymarket, told WIRED in a statement.

Polymarket declined to share the language it uses in contracts with its affiliates, though the company emphasized that its guidelines prohibit false and misleading statements. As the Popular Information newsletter first reported earlier today, Other posts Companies labeled as paid partnerships with Polymarket and Kalshi that promote election denial narratives are still present online, illustrating how enforcing their guidelines has become a game of whack-a-mole for prediction market companies. (Polymarket is pursuing additional accounts that violated its policies, WIRED said.)

Last week, Politico I mentioned Polymarket’s chief marketing officer, Matthew Moudaber, pays creators directly using PayPal, an unconventional arrangement. It is unclear whether Modabber paid Johnson or right-wing commentator Kangmin Lee, whose position was also removed, for these specific partnerships. Polymarket declined to comment on the payment method.

Kalshi and Polymarket offer a wide range of political and election themed markets, and predictive market odds are increasingly being incorporated into media coverage of elections. (For example, CNN entered into an agreement Formal partnership With Calshi late last year.) But both platforms are under Intensive scrutiny From legislators and regulators. Many state officials believe these startups should be regulated like gambling platforms rather than commodity exchanges, and dozens of such companies Ongoing lawsuits They try to force them to abide by government gambling laws. There is also bipartisan concern about how to stimulate and facilitate these markets Insider trading And market manipulation.

This latest incident raises another alarm: These companies have implicated themselves with influencers who espouse election denial. The odds that this will be a one-off event, and that this army of enthusiastic commentators will exercise excellent judgment on what constitutes appropriate paid promotional material, appear slim.