X (Twitter) has revised its Paid Partnerships Policy and currently makes it very clear that gambling promotions through influencer collaborations, sponsored posts, or any other paid content on the platform are not allowed.
After being heavily criticized and with gambling dominating the news in most regions, Elon Musk’s X on February 18th, sent out a message to users, businesses, and advertisers announcing that following the changes in the rules, gambling products and services may no longer be promoted via paid partnerships.
X:
X defines paid partnerships as the involvement of a third-party brand providing compensation or incentives to a user, such as an influencer or content creator, to promote their product or service.
The ban on gambling advertisements covers all types of content agreements that are compensated, such as influencer endorsements, affiliate partnerships, brand ambassador deals, and even promotional giveaways handed out as freebies.
X sees gambling products and services as including lotteries, social casinos, sports betting, and other wagering-related offerings, all of which, incidentally, have been officially declared ineligible for marketing through paid partnerships on the platform.
The new rule equates gambling with other limited sectors, e.g. financial products and crypto services, alcohol and tobacco, pharmaceuticals and health supplements, political or geopolitical campaigns, and adult content.
X considers Paid Partnerships as a different entity from their regular advertising campaigns. In the recent update, it has been made clear that any gambling-related content is forbidden to be promoted via any paid partnership or collaboration with influencers, including their associated accounts.
The platform emphasized their point of the existing advertising guidelines, they insist that every post from paid partnerships must show their commercial nature. To build the trust of the audience, tags like “Ad” or “Promoted Content” should be visibly clear.
Creators are obliged to follow not only X’s endorsement and paid partnership policies but also any local advertising laws that are relevant to them. X’s policy framework elaborates that content that is not allowed to be used for Paid Partnerships may still be allowed through X Ads, depending on the platform’s separate advertising regulations.
X:
Our policies for Paid Partnerships are distinct from our Advertising policies. Content prohibited under paid partnerships may be permissible in X Ads. If you are interested in promoting X Ads, please refer to our X Advertising Policies.
X acts in response to stricter global regulations.
This development has resulted in a fresh restriction being placed on social media promotional channels utilized by licensed gambling operators and their media partners. This especially applies to regulated markets where influencer marketing is either entirely banned or only allowed under very strict regulations.
In Europe, influencer promotions related to gambling have been completely banned in the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, and Italy, and Romania is anticipated to become a part of this group soon.
Influencers in the UK are allowed to promote gambling products; nevertheless, all such campaigns should be in line with the CAP advertising codes that specify the rules of gambling content and require that the audience be of an appropriate age.
The French gambling watchdog, ANJ, said that it might take into account a review of the social media marketing rules with a particular focus on the influencer code. This review will be undertaken alongside the ANJ’s evaluation of gambling advertisements, which will probably occur after the FIFA World Cup 2026.
On the other hand, in Brazil, the employment of influencers, celebrities, and athletes to advertise gambling activities has been made illegal since the implementation of the Brazil Bets regime on 1 January 2025. This prohibition has been established as a significant measure for the safety of youngsters and other potentially vulnerable groups.
X went on to say that exceptions to its Paid Partnerships Policy could potentially be allowed at the discretion of their internal sales teams, but she did not indicate if gambling operators would be one of the exceptions reviewed.
In 2026, social media and big tech companies will be under much more intense scrutiny around the world, including in content moderation, prevention of abuse and protection of young audiences. The issues have become so severe that they have first led to a complete social media ban in Australia and then Spain. At the same time, other countries such as the UK are discussing the possibility of implementing similar measures.
Both YouTube (Google) and Twitch (Amazon) have, among other things, been busy upgrading their policies on content and monetization, but none of them has yet to go as far as to completely prohibit influencer-led or paid gambling promotions.
