Meta is working on an app to let people predict what is about to happen, according to a new report.
The tool will let people compete to guess future events, and was personally launched by chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, according to a report from the New York Times.
The move comes after the success of rival “prediction markets” such as Polymarket and Kalshi, which allow people to bet on future events for money.
Initially, Meta’s app is expected to be built on a points system like a video game, the NYT report claimed. But the company could eventually let people bet for actual money, it said.
It would work as a separate app from Meta’s primary social networks such as Facebook and Instagram, it said. Internally, the app is known as “Arena”.
It may be joined by other standalone app such as Meta Photos, allowing users to make new kinds of media, the report claimed. Meta has already launched separate apps such as its “Meta AI” tool, which allows users to easily make and share AI images, as well as control the company’s smart glasses.
Prediction markets have surged in popularity in recent years, driven in part by desire to bet on the results of the 2024 US election. They have since become incredibly valuable, with users betting huge amounts of money on the outcomes of events in everything from politics to sport.
They have become controversial over that same time, with critics arguing that they represent a dangerous kind of betting as well as allowing for insider trading. A number of high-profile and substantial trades have been made ahead of big decisions by Donald Trump, for instance, leading to fears that they are being used to make money on information that should be secret.
