MeidasTouch: Senators Padilla and Warner Demand Answers from Prediction Market Companies on Paying Influencers Who Spread Disinformation
By Troy Matthews
U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Senate Rules Committee, and Mark Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, have submitted a letter demanding answers from prediction market companies Kalshi and Polymarket regarding their practice of paying online influencers who have spread false information, including spreading debunked claims that U.S. federal elections are subject to widespread fraud while using a “paid partnership” stamp from the companies.
The Senators raised concerns regarding users of Kalshi and Polymarket placing wagers on government actions. The letter discusses the use of paid prediction market influencers spreading false claims of election fraud; undermining confidence in U.S. elections ahead of the 2026 midterms. The Senators specifically called out posts that spread election disinformation while promoting the SAVE Act.
“By creating and aggressively promoting markets on elections, your platforms now play a significant role in shaping Americans’ perceptions of their elections,” wrote the Senators.
“We are seriously alarmed that your marketing strategy includes paying numerous social media influencers willing to espouse unreliable information on elections. In doing so, we are concerned that your prediction market platforms may be subsidizing — and amplifying — social media influencers who echo President Trump’s baseless attacks and sow distrust in American elections.”
The letter also includes a detailed list of questions to be answered by executives about their paid influencer contracts and strategy, their policies for influencers who post about elections, whether the companies consider disinformation to be fraudulent conduct, and the vetting process of paid influencers in the context of elections.
“In July, a series of major social media influencers, including former Congressman Matt Gaetz, all posted similar ‘paid partnership’ posts linking to Polymarket and Kalshi charts showing the odds of enactment of the SAVE Act dropping to all-time lows,” the Senators continued. “As Majority Leader Thune has noted, much of the pressure on the Senate to pass the SAVE Act, rooted in false claims of widespread election fraud, comes from ‘paid influencers.’”
“As your platforms work to respond to these questions, we urge you to act now to reevaluate all paid influencer relationships regarding elections, thoroughly vet all existing and future paid influencer arrangements, and immediately terminate any existing relationships with those who spread election misinformation, disinformation, or undermine the integrity of U.S. elections,” the Senators concluded.
Last month, Padilla introduced the Stop Harassment and Intimidations in Elections through Legal Defenses (SHIELD) Our Elections Act, legislation that would provide states and voters the ability to enforce federal election protections and protect voters’ ballots from seizure.
In June, Padilla and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced the Fraudulent Artificial Intelligence Regulations (FAIR) Elections Act to protect voters in the face of misuse of artificial intelligence to suppress voting and voter purges amid the Trump Administration’s attacks on the right to vote and election conspiracy theories.
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