Kalshi Abandons Affiliate Badges After Twitter’s Policy Shift

Prediction market Kalshi removed all affiliate badges on X/Twitter on Monday evening after the social media platform recently updated its paid partnerships policy to prohibit promotional deals with accounts that post gambling and sports betting content.

Twitter updated its paid partnerships policy last week to bar paid affiliate accounts that post about “gambling products and services (including lotteries, social casinos, sports betting, and other gambling related content).” 

Following the policy update, Twitter head of product Nikita Bier posted a meme showing a utopian society with the caption, “The world without prediction market spam on X.”

A Kalshi spokesperson confirmed the move to Front Office Sports, saying, “We’ve decided to remove Kalshi badges. People loved the badges and it was a fun way to engage the community, but it became too difficult to police, and people often confused badged accounts with Kalshi-endorsed messages. We’ll figure out other ways to make things fun for our traders.”

The news that all Kalshi affiliate badges had been removed was first reported by Prediction News.

As of late Monday night, there were still Polymarket accounts with affiliate badges. A representative for Polymarket did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Polymarket reached a deal in June to become Twitter’s “official prediction market partner.”

Affiliate badge programs have been widely used by platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket as tools to promote their brands, although the practice has gotten both companies in hot water because of affiliates that posted fake news or troublesome content (like racist posts). Kalshi previously likened the affiliate badges to “bumper stickers or team logos.”

Prediction markets, under fire from multiple state regulators and involved in numerous lawsuits, are viewed favorably by the Trump administration. Last week, Mike Selig, the newly approved chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission—the federal regulator charged with policing the industry—weighed in on one of those lawsuits. The CFTC filed an amicus brief in a case originally filed by Crypto.com that has reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, saying prediction markets fall exclusively under its jurisdiction. 

The primary bone of contention between proponents and opponents of prediction markets has been whether sports event contracts constitute sports betting, which is regulated on a state-by-state basis, or if these companies have found a loophole that allows them to offer their product in all 50 states.

“To those who seek to challenge our authority in this space, Selig said in a video posted to social media, “let me be clear: we will see you in court.”