Meta Has Another Fine Idea: Gambling
July 7, 2026
Meta and other social media companies are already under fire for purposely making their platforms addicting, thus contributing to depression, anxiety, and more mental health issues. They are already facing a lawsuit from Morgan and Morgan (the largest legal practice in the United States). They are also responsible for encouraging other maladaptive behaviors. Guess what? Mart Zuckerberg of Meta wants to encourage kids to continue “nurturing” these behaviors says Mother Jones in the article: “Mark Zuckerberg Sure Sounds Eager to Get Young People Hooked on Online Gambling.”
Zuckerberg along with his company believe that gambling is the way of the future. The new jargon for online gambling is called “prediction markets” and they are gaining in popularity. Zuckerberg wants a piece of that pie, so Meta is considering partnering with Kalshi and Polymarket. He also plans to develop an in-house app called Arena that will target 18-34 year olds. Arena will be added to parts of Facebook and Messenger, attaching betting options to various features, including group chats, videos, and news feeds.
While prediction markets might be the new content wave of the future, there are negative aspects that Meta is overlooking:
“The strategy appears to be: betting as content, gamifying gambling to become social. It’s a framing that could open the door to harmful situations, especially for the young people he’s going after.According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, 2.5 million US adults, or about 1 percent of Americans, meet the diagnostic mental health criteria of severe gambling addiction. An Epic Research study published on Friday analyzing electronic health records found that gambling disorder diagnoses have risen more than 60 percent since 2018 in states that have legalized sports betting. The largest increase came from young people, aged 18 to 29, whose rate more than doubled.”
Meta wants to make everything a gambling feature.? ? By doing so, Meta will blur the lines between regular content and gambling. Can you imagine reading the news or talking to friends then you’re plagued by ads to gamble? Zuckerberg already has enough problems but he wants to create more. Is he a great leader? Nah, but he plans to be one in gambling. Remember everyone: the house always wins.
Whitney Grace, July 7, 2026
Comments
Got something to say?
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
