Unknown just a few years ago, the prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket have gained wider recognition in recent weeks.
Available in all 50 states because they are not classified as gambling services, Kalshi and Polymarket offer users the opportunity to bet on anything from the Super Bowl to the Brazilian presidential election. CNN and CNBC have each reached separate agreements with the company to provide prediction market data for network broadcasts.
And the companies have become increasingly visible on social media, in part by partnering with accounts that advertise themselves as belonging to breaking news reporters. There’s one problem: Some of the accounts have been labeled parodies or have been shown to repeatedly post false information.
That includes the X account under the name “Scott Hughes,” which has gone viral since the college basketball season began. With a bio section that describes Hughes as a “credentialed men’s basketball reporter,” the account has repeatedly spread false information. During the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon college basketball event in November, Hughes tweeted that former ESPN NBA insider and current St. Bonaventure general manager Adrian Wojnarowski had been ejected from a game. Multiple reporters at the event in South Carolina refuted the report. A community note was later added on X stating that the report was false.
On Dec. 5, Hughes claimed that Kentucky head coach Mark Pope had made offensive comments in a conversation with a reporter. “Officially off the rails in Nashville,” Hughes wrote. The quote attributed to Pope was false.
In tandem with these posts, the Hughes account has promoted Kalshi Sports content by displaying its predictive metrics for certain events. Just a few hours after the post on Pope, for example, the account posted Kalshi’s numbers on Kentucky’s national title chances, according to Awful Announcing. The post on Pope, among others, was later deleted.
Hughes’ account was labeled as a parody account on Dec. 8, and the Kalshi Sports “K” logo was removed from the bio. It appears that his posts associated with Kalshi were deleted over the next 24 hours. A Kalshi spokesman said that the company ended its partnership with the Hughes account once it was labeled a parody account.
The administrator for the Hughes account on X did not respond to a request for comment.
Kalshi has multiple types of partnerships with social media accounts, with different badges in user bios signifying varying levels of partnership, the company spokesman said. Official representatives of the company are given a green Kalshi logo badge, usually reserved for the company’s employees. The vetting process to ensure integrity for these accounts is extensive, according to Kalshi. However, other accounts do not undergo the same process and are given alternative Kalshi logos.
“There’s a bunch of different ones for all of our different verticals that are just sort of more like digital advertising,” the spokesman said. “Billboards that are just more of a marketing gimmick than anything else, and don’t constitute official representatives of the company, including the Kalshi Sports K, that Scott Hughes was wearing at the time.”
With the goal of driving engagement, some Kalshi-affiliated accounts post misleading information. One example comes from user @Jacobtheclipper, who wrote that Lakers guard Luka Doncic wanted LeBron James to leave the team, despite having no basis for the claim.
“What do you mean by working?” – Luka when asked about working with Bron
NONE of Bron’s teammates EVER liked him, Kyrie warned us about him. Now Luka looks frustrated, he can’t wait for Bron to leave so the Lakes can be serious about winning again. pic.twitter.com/zgcnPFmj1v
— Jacob (@Jacobtheclipper) December 18, 2025
Kalshi says that it attempts to provide guidance on integrity to these partner accounts, but that is not its focus.
“The vetting process is more about impressions and reach and standard advertising things, and more about brand awareness, because they don’t represent the company,” the Kalshi spokesman said. “We try to educate them to the extent that we can, but we have thousands of them, and since it’s more of a marketing brand awareness play in the first place, there’s not the same level of attention given to them as the official representative.”
Aside from the differing logos, there is no indication in user bios of the distinction between Kalshi-affiliated accounts and official Kalshi representatives. Users are not made aware of the internal logo classifications.
“When affiliate badges or partnerships are displayed, there needs to be clear separation between independent commentary and compensated promotion,” wrote Ariel E. Givner, an attorney who specializes in corporate and securities law, in an email to The Athletic. “If users cannot easily distinguish between organic discussion and incentivized referrals, that raises disclosure and consumer-protection concerns rather than outright legality issues. The risk is confusion, not necessarily misconduct.”
X users have grown frustrated with the Kalshi-affiliated accounts, with some complaining that the content they post makes the social media platform far less appealing.
There are a few good ones, but the majority of the people that have these prediction markets badges are awful and Kalshi is by far the worst.
Take your money to ethical places. https://t.co/L9QiUCNGaP
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) December 18, 2025
Whoever is responsible for giving out Kalshi affiliate badges might be the least serious person on the planet.
— Dustin Gouker (@DustinGouker) December 8, 2025
A software that automatically blocks anybody with a kalshi badge by their username would instantly fix everything wrong with this website
— Kalon Fullerton (@cowlonfull) December 15, 2025
Kalshi says these account partnerships help expand its reach.
“Brand awareness is the benefit,” the Kalshi spokesman said. “People love jokes, right? People love to laugh. Often, there are a lot of very funny ways to use our markets, right? This idea that markets are always accurate and truthful. If somebody is making a claim on the internet, just responding with a simple chart that proves them wrong, which you know is accurate, is a cool way to make fun of somebody. It’s also a good way to kind of embed the idea of our product in people’s minds. So, we like working with pages that understand our product and can give it some awareness in a lighthearted way, but we kind of draw the line at people who would intentionally put out false news.”
Polymarket has also been linked to social media accounts that have spread misinformation, including accounts connected to Dov Kleiman and Emma Vance.
A social media aggregation account for NFL news under the name Dov Kleiman has been a source of controversy in recent years, with a reputation for misrepresenting the truth and, in some cases, spreading outright false information. For example, Kleiman’s account once claimed that Raiders owner Mark Davis’ girlfriend was pregnant. The pregnant woman, Hayden Hopkins, was not dating Davis, and the baby was not his.
On December 9, the account posted a video of Justin Herbert’s interaction with a young fan, falsely claiming that the Chargers quarterback cursed at him. In the video, a woman’s voice can instead be heard saying the words. A community note was later added to the post.
Kleiman’s user bio displays the Polymarket logo and mentions that the account is “powered by Polymarket.” He frequently posts Polymarket’s content.
Jalen Hurts committed TWO turnovers on the SAME PLAY.
Philly were massive favorites coming in. They’re down to a 32% chance to win according to Polymarket. pic.twitter.com/gXkVU4lA06
— Polymarket Sports (@PolymarketSport) December 9, 2025
Polymarket did not respond to interview requests from The Athletic.
“Predictive markets rely heavily on information integrity and user trust,” Givner said. “When accounts that have an economic relationship with a platform amplify claims that are incomplete, oversimplified or promotional in nature, it can distort user perception of risk. The concern is not that markets stop functioning, but that price discovery becomes less reflective of genuine belief and more influenced by marketing dynamics, which can undermine confidence over time.”
Polymarket has also partnered with Vance, whose X bio lists her as a “lead Polymarket reporter.” She began promoting Polymarket content in early November.
In recent weeks, multiple fake breaking news posts from the Vance account have gone viral, including claims that Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo requested a trade and that the Steelers were pursuing a trade of coach Mike Tomlin. Antetokounmpo has publicly denied a trade request.
🚨 BREAKING: Giannis Antetokounmpo has requested a trade from Milwaukee per source
The Lakers are currently his first choice pic.twitter.com/nw3bPtCEn6
— Emma Vance (@emmaleevance) December 2, 2025
Everybody knows I had the Giannis news first Shams#emmasources https://t.co/FCWfjVwKxj pic.twitter.com/SC0ifZeFc0
— Emma Vance (@emmaleevance) December 3, 2025
🚨 BREAKING: Despite a big win in Baltimore, the Steelers are exploring trade options for Mike Tomlin in the offseason per source
The New York giants are currently the favorite pic.twitter.com/hsv380kb9N
— Emma Vance (@emmaleevance) December 7, 2025
The administrators of the X accounts for Vance and Hughes did not respond to requests for comment.
“Individuals with large followings can materially affect market behavior by shaping narratives, even when the underlying information is unverified or speculative,” Givner said. “The concern is not social media usage itself, but how reach and credibility can impact perceived probability, potentially skewing markets away from objective data.”
After Sherrone Moore’s departure as the coach of Michigan, Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham became the betting favorite on Kalshi to be his replacement following rumors circulating on social media. Dillingham signed a contract extension with Arizona State last week and said Michigan never offered him the job.
Confusion over the legitimacy of news reports on X was amplified after Elon Musk purchased the social media platform, then known as Twitter, and removed its previous verification structure for users in April 2023. Musk is allowing users to pay for verification rather than going through a vetting process.
Since then, a number of users impersonating sports reporters have spread false information. This includes an account pretending to be ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter.
X lays out the platform’s authenticity policies on its website. It bans the use of “fake personas.” The platform did not respond to a request for comment.
While they continue to grow, prediction markets are also facing backlash. Last week, the NFL advised against the use of these services in submitted written testimony to the House Committee on Agriculture. The committee hosted a hearing on the regulation of prediction markets by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
“We are particularly troubled that several sports-related futures contracts have been launched nationwide, including in jurisdictions where sports betting has not been legalized,” wrote executive vice president for the NFL, Jeff Miller. “These contracts fall outside the purview of state regulatory authorities and the safeguards they impose upon the industry.”
Kalshi revealed on December 18 that it plans to create markets that predict whether players will enter the transfer portal. The company said that transfer portal markets would initially be listed on their site Wednesday, but no transfer portal markets were posted on Kalshi as of December 19. NCAA president Charlie Baker took to his X account to express his disappointment.
“The NCAA vehemently opposes college sports prediction markets,” Baker wrote in a statement on X on Thursday. “It is already bad enough that student-athletes face harassment and abuse for lost bets on game performance, and now Kalshi wants to offer bets on their transfer decisions and status — this is absolutely unacceptable and would place even greater pressure on student-athletes while threatening competition integrity and recruiting processes. Their decisions and future should not be gambled with, especially in an unregulated marketplace that does not follow any rules of legitimate sports betting operators.”
The @NCAA vehemently opposes college sports prediction markets. It is already bad enough that student-athletes face harassment and abuse for lost bets on game performance, and now Kalshi wants to offer bets on their transfer decisions and status — this is absolutely unacceptable…
— Charlie Baker (@CharlieBakerMA) December 18, 2025
Front Office Sports reported in November that Kalshi is facing a nationwide class action lawsuit for “illegal sports betting.” Kalshi has argued that its operations differ from sports betting because betting occurs between users rather than between users and a sportsbook.
“Because we’re not the house, because we’re not the counterpart of our own customers, we are not incentivized to maximize their losses in the way that a casino would,” a Kalshi spokesman said. “A casino profits from the customer’s losses, and that’s not the case with us. It just leads to much better incentives and alignment all around.”
Givner believes that prediction markets are progressing too quickly for them to be properly regulated.
“The biggest concern is regulatory mismatch with technology speed,” Givner said. “Prediction markets evolve faster than clear guidance, and that creates uncertainty for operators and users alike. Without consistent standards around disclosures, market resolution rules, influencer involvement and cross-border participation, platforms may unintentionally drift into gray areas. Long-term stability depends on clearer frameworks rather than enforcement after the fact.”
