Author: Sanqing, Foresight News
Original Title: X's New Advertising Disclosure Rules to Launch, Potentially Ending the Crypto KOLs' 'Easy Money' Model
On February 21, X platform product lead Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) publicly intervened in a post suspected of undisclosed paid promotion, directly requesting the original poster to add a disclosure statement or face account suspension. User @infodexx posted a list of the "Most Valuable Startups of 2025," with prediction market Kalshi ranking second with a $11 billion valuation, accompanied by Kalshi's green brand image and founder's photo.
The post garnered over 420,000 views, nearly 2000 likes, and hundreds of reposts. While it appeared to be an objective ranking, it was flagged in the reader community notes as "this is a paid post." Furthermore, @infodexx's bio explicitly states "@Kalshi partner," yet the original post lacked any clear disclosure labels like #ad or #sponsored.
Nikita Bier replied to the post on the same day: "Please add a follow-up reply disclosing this is a paid promotion for Kalshi. Otherwise, this will result in account suspension." Later, when user @AlexFinn complained about the X platform being flooded with undisclosed ads (especially posts related to prediction markets and AI), Nikita Bier further stated: "We are launching a disclosure feature for this type of issue next week."
High-Viewership Hidden Ads Will Be Brought into the Light
Below are several examples of high-viewership "hidden ads" selected by the author. These tweets appear to be natural shares but are suspected promotions lacking any disclosure labels. They attract high views, lure degens to follow the trend, yet evade responsibility.
A Spanish-language account @jota_snchez shared a story about a "Chinese student making a fortune on Polymarket," with over 1.29 million views, 7313 likes, and 312 reposts. The content detailed strategies with images and videos, seeming like an inspirational post but actually softly promoting Polymarket's money-making potential. No #ad label, yet indirectly hyping the platform—a classic disguise of experience sharing.
User @FluentInFinance quoted a Kalshi tweet, complaining "US 1% wealthier than middle class," with 1.68 million views, 150k+ likes, and 20k+ reposts. Superficially social commentary, it actually quoted Kalshi's "JUST IN" news, guiding users to bet on related events on the platform. Not labeled #sponsored, yet amplified exposure through high engagement. This is where Web3 degens often get tricked.
@Shelpid_WI3M "exposed" a 5-minute setup framework for Polymarket Clawdbot, with 940k views, 2940 likes, 6091 bookmarks. Detailed steps + link, seeming like a "free share" but actually promoting a copytrade tool, indirectly pulling new users to Polymarket. No disclosure of any partnership—this type of "developer perspective" hidden ad is the most deceptive for technical degens.
@karbonbased publicly "refused Kalshi collaboration but continues to shill Polymarket for free," with 95k views, 764 likes. Superficially a "principled" refusal, it actually promotes Polymarket indirectly. The word "free" is most suspicious—what's truly free in Web3? No #ad, yet using moral high ground to induce followers.
@pablofindsout uploaded a video discussing the nature of Polymarket and Kalshi, with 300k views, 1657 likes. Citing expert opinions, seemingly neutral but actually amplifying platform exposure—an unlabeled sponsored隐形广告片 (stealth ad video).
These examples show that high viewership does not equal sincerity. They rely on FOMO for viral spread but avoid disclosure, costing wallets dearly. After the new rules, similar tweets will be restricted.
Impact of X's New Rules on Web3 Marketing
For Web3 project teams, this means a significant increase in marketing costs. Many prediction market projects (like Polymarket and Kalshi) rely on KOLs' soft ads to drive user FOMO entry at low cost.
Now, the new rules require any content involving payment, gifts, affiliate links, or material incentives to be prominently labeled with "#ad," "sponsored," or "paid partnership," etc. Otherwise, the tweet will be directly removed, and the account faces suspension or even permanent ban.
In the short term, growth for these platforms will slow down. KOLs will hesitate to share freely, collaboration thresholds will be raised, and budgets will be forced towards more expensive channels.
For KOLs, the most direct impact is the end of the "low-effort easy money" model. In the past, many projects heavily relied on KOLs' "soft ad" strategy: disguising promotions as neutral experience sharing, data-driven complaints, or viral memes to create FOMO and drive user participation at low cost.
Now, forced explicit disclosure means KOLs can no longer hide commercial relationships and dare not casually "share naturally." Once detected by AI or reported, the risk of tweet deletion and account suspension is extremely high.
This will also raise the collaboration threshold between projects and KOLs. As risks increase, KOLs' rates may rise. But in the long run, this is positive for the Web3 ecosystem. Increased transparency will restore user trust in promoted content, reducing rug pulls and short-term speculation.
A common alternative is shifting to X's official Promoted Post system: these ads automatically carry "Promoted" or "Ads" labels, handled uniformly by the platform for disclosure, avoiding manual labeling risks. However, this also means project teams pay directly to X, concentrating more ad revenue into the platform's hands rather than dispersing it to KOLs.
X's move also likely aims to enhance its own advertising monetization capability. By enforcing explicit disclosure and promoting official ad tools, the platform can attract more budgets into its own system, capturing the share of "hidden ads" that originally flowed to KOLs, further strengthening its position as an ad revenue source, especially in competitive fields like prediction markets and AI content.
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