Polymarket's X account withheld in India after legal demand
Polymarket's official X account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand, extending restrictions beyond the platform's earlier website blocks in the country. The action comes months after Indian authorities began restricting real-money gaming and the prediction market's website access. The social media withholding widens India's crackdown on the crypto-native prediction market platform. X complied with the legal demand to block the account from view within India.
Polymarket now faces parallel platform-level restrictions on two continents, compounding the legal pressure it already faces in U.S. states. In India, the account withholding signals that authorities are targeting distribution channels beyond websites, making market access harder to restore. The move comes as Polymarket sues Ohio to block enforcement and fights to preserve federal preemption in U.S. courts.
Each new jurisdiction that successfully restricts Polymarket emboldens others, whether state attorneys general or national regulators. The company must now fund legal and political outreach across multiple markets simultaneously. For traders, the restrictions fragment liquidity and raise questions about which jurisdictions will remain open. Competitors with narrower geographic footprints, such as Kalshi's U.S.-only operation, face fewer comparable risks.
Polymarket joins a widening set of platforms fighting state-by-state enforcement actions, as its Ohio suit and India restrictions add to the preemption battles already lost by Kalshi in Ohio and Tennessee and now joined by Crypto.com and Novig in Missouri.