Meta employees are testing a points-based prediction market app called Takes, WSJ reports

Meta employees have begun testing a prediction market app called Takes, in which they wager points called “cred” instead of real money, the Wall Street Journal reports. The app isn’t public, and Meta declined to comment on it, according to the Journal.

Journal reporter Meghan Bobrowsky broke the story as an exclusive on Friday 13 November US time (14 November in New Zealand), citing people familiar with the matter. She summarised it on X:

SCOOP: Meta employees have begun testing a prediction market app under development called Takes.

Users can wager “cred,” short for credibility, not real money. Yesterday, one of the questions employees were wagering on was whether Tim Cook will be the next Nvidia CEO.

November 13, 2026

How the wagers work

Employees stake cred, short for credibility, on the outcome of a question or event. A correct wager wins cred and a wrong one loses it, the Journal’s sources said. Kalshi and Polymarket, the prediction markets where users trade real money, work differently: Takes doesn’t allow real-money wagers.

On Thursday, one question asked whether former Apple chief executive Tim Cook will be Nvidia’s next CEO, the Journal reports. Most voters wagered that he won’t. Another question asked who would win Friday night’s Jeopardy.

Meta regularly tests new apps, products and features with employees before releasing them, a process known as dogfooding. Not every product makes it out of testing, and names and features can change before release, the Journal says.

From Arena to Takes

The New York Times reported on 23 June, citing two employees, that Mark Zuckerberg had sent a small team to build a smartphone app similar to Polymarket and Kalshi. The Times said Meta called the app Arena internally and that it would run independently of Facebook and Instagram. Users wouldn’t wager money, and the app would probably use a video-game-like points system, one person told the Times, though Meta hadn’t ruled out real-money betting. The next day, NPR reported, citing internal documents, that users would get “a daily virtual allotment” of “play money”.

On 26 June, the Times reported that Zuckerberg had urged his lieutenants to explore partnerships with Polymarket and Kalshi. The target users were 18- to 34-year-olds, and Meta was aiming for at least 100 million monthly active “predictors”. Ime Archibong, a Meta vice president of product who leads the effort, wrote in an internal post relayed to the Times: “We believe that prediction markets are one of the more interesting new content types.”

Meta has run a points-based prediction app before. It released Forecast in 2020 and shut it in 2022, the Times reported. Zuckerberg hasn’t talked publicly about the new app, the Journal says. In an internal meeting in the spring, he said he and product chief Chris Cox had talked about building as many as 50 new apps, according to a recording the Journal reviewed.

The market Meta is looking at

Kalshi and Polymarket have grown popular in recent years, particularly with Gen Z users, the age group Meta is trying to keep engaged with its products, the Journal reports. Both companies face lawsuits from US states that accuse them of running illegal gambling platforms. They say the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulates them at the federal level. The Journal notes that Polymarket has a data partnership with Dow Jones, the Journal’s publisher.

What the reports don’t say

Meta declined to comment on Takes. The Journal says it’s unclear when, if ever, the app will be released. Its report doesn’t say whether Meta still plans real-money wagering, which the Times said in June the company hadn’t ruled out.