Mark Zuckerberg Wants Meta to Build Its Own 'Prediction Market' App

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly wants his company to independently build a prediction market application, having identified the practice as a future trend. This was first reported by the New York Times, as cited by TechCrunch on Tuesday (23/6) local time. According to the report, Zuckerberg wants the technology giant to have a smartphone app similar to Polymarket. He has even given the green light to develop the application, which is currently internally named ‘Arena’. The application is believed not to be connected to the social networks currently owned by Meta, although those social media sites could direct users to interact with ‘Arena’. Furthermore, an unnamed internal source said that the concept of Arena is currently described as an ‘experimental but top-priority’ application. More interestingly, Meta is designing this app without a focus on involving money. However, the possibility of money being used within the app could be added at a later date. Prediction markets have become a trend over the past year, known for allowing opportunists to generate large profits, but have now ended in controversy. By April 2026, trading volume on prediction market platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi had reached tens of billions of US dollars. Social media sites affiliated with this market, such as X, are also known to be exploiting the industry. Alongside profits from prediction market trading, there has also been a sharp increase in legal cases. There is the case of former New York congressman George Santos, who is currently under investigation for alleged trading on the Kalshi platform. Many US states are also suing prediction markets over alleged violations of gambling laws. Other countries, including Indonesia, have also blocked access to prediction market platforms because they are deemed to meet the elements of online gambling.