The prediction market operator Kalshi on Thursday terminated its relationship with an X (formerly Twitter) account espousing far-right views when it learned that “InsiderWire” had moved more directly into hate speech.
The InsiderWire account, which describes itself as “independent news for Patriots, by Patriots. Cited by the Mainstream-Media” and became increasingly active after an assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump last July, had previously peddled in unsourced right-wing posts. But while many of its more than 6,100 posts had not pushed further right than the likes of NewsMax, this week they veered into a darker direction, particularly in replies.
InsiderWire’s X activity was first discovered by gambling industry veteran Dustin Gouker.
InGame brought the posts to Kalshi’s attention Thursday afternoon, and a spokesperson told InGame that InsiderWire was “not anymore” a partner, adding “Kalshi’s affiliation with InsiderWire has ended, effective immediately, after it was brought to our attention that standard contractual terms of conduct were breached.”
A Kalshi spokesperson further described the relationship as “a surface level advertising partnership, with no editorial aspect or control.”
Among the potentially offensive statements that got attention: The account, verified with a gold check as “an official organization on X,” replied on Wednesday afternoon to an X post by a Polymarket “-powered” account with the word “Retarded.”
In another instance on Thursday, InsiderWire replied with an upward-pointing finger agreeing with a reply reading “Deport all Indians.”
The account displayed the Kalshi logo, and the web link on the X page led to Kalshi’s home page — and still did as of the publication time of this article on Thursday.
Kalshi and CEO Tarek Mansour have established a libertarian tone since the prediction market began offering sports events contracts in February and bucked state-level attempts to shut it down as an unregulated and untaxed sports betting platform. Mansour has resisted cease-and-desist orders in three states — successfully, so far in Nevada and New Jersey — contending that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) oversees it at the federal level.
But the company has right-wing connections. One board member and shareholder, Brian Quintenz, is President Trump’s nominee to run the CFTC, which has so far not resisted any of Kalshi’s bold moves into sports betting. And Donald Trump Jr. is a Kalshi advisor.
