3 ms·

>Officially this was done out of concern for the safety of the French citizens. Gambling regulations exist in most places in the world, including the US. With

>Officially this was done out of concern for the safety of the French citizens. Gambling regulations exist in most places in the world, including the US. With good reason.

petcat 12d ago
The US doesn't block websites. Occasionally the FBI will seize a domain after a court order, but that's it. French people were already forbidden from transacting on Polymarket and Kalshi, and the services themselves were forbidden to take any market orders. Nobody disagrees with the regulations. But apparently the French government still thought it was so dangerous that they needed to block the websites completely to protect the French people from themselves. This is where the line is crossed. There wasn't even a court involved at all. This happens all over Europe. The citizens give their governments the power to block things, or mass surveillance in the name of "safety" and then they just take everything and EU citizens are left wondering why.
- prmoustache 12d ago
  I don't rank "illegal" website blockage nearly in the same category as state surveillance.
- mitxela 12d ago
  The US already blocked Polymarket long ago and replaced it with a neutered US version. They know everyone uses VPNs to get around this, so they're trying to force the US version to be the only worldwide version.
  - petcat 12d ago
    It was just a regulatory block, not an ISP-level government block which is what we're talking about here.
    - mitxela 12d ago
      Because they didn't have to do an ISP block. If they had to, they would have.
      - petcat 12d ago
        No they wouldn't have, because that's illegal in the US.
        mitxela 12d ago
        If that's the case and they need to, they'll just make it legal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_the_Uni...
        petcat 12d ago
        Lots of goal post moving here. The US government cannot compel ISPs to block websites. The only time it was tried was in 2022 to block some Israeli piracy site, and the federal court dropped the block within weeks after being hammered with first amendment lawsuits. What we are seeing happening in Spain, France, and all across the EU, is literally impossible in the US.
    - barrkel 12d ago
      What they do instead is scoop up execs when they travel through the US. Peter Dicks, David Carruthers State violence is used to ensure compliance, so that companies self-censor.
      - adventured 12d ago
        Well that's pretty easily avoided then. Don't travel through the US.
- baud147258 12d ago
  Here in France, while Polymarket is blocked, I was able to access Kalshi without any issue. But I didn't try to use Kalshi's services
account42 12d ago
Does the US also have a state-run betting monopoly that it grants excemptions to?
- equinoxnemesis 12d ago
  Some US states do!

>Officially this was done out of concern for the safety of the French citizens. Gambling regulations exist in most places in the world, including the US. With good reason.

petcat 12d ago

The US doesn't block websites. Occasionally the FBI will seize a domain after a court order, but that's it. French people were already forbidden from transacting on Polymarket and Kalshi, and the services themselves were forbidden to take any market orders. Nobody disagrees with the regulations. But apparently the French government still thought it was so dangerous that they needed to block the websites completely to protect the French people from themselves. This is where the line is crossed. There wasn't even a court involved at all. This happens all over Europe. The citizens give their governments the power to block things, or mass surveillance in the name of "safety" and then they just take everything and EU citizens are left wondering why.

prmoustache 12d ago
I don't rank "illegal" website blockage nearly in the same category as state surveillance.
mitxela 12d ago
The US already blocked Polymarket long ago and replaced it with a neutered US version. They know everyone uses VPNs to get around this, so they're trying to force the US version to be the only worldwide version.
- petcat 12d ago
  It was just a regulatory block, not an ISP-level government block which is what we're talking about here.
  - mitxela 12d ago
    Because they didn't have to do an ISP block. If they had to, they would have.
    - petcat 12d ago
      No they wouldn't have, because that's illegal in the US.
      - mitxela 12d ago
        If that's the case and they need to, they'll just make it legal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_the_Uni...
        petcat 12d ago
        Lots of goal post moving here. The US government cannot compel ISPs to block websites. The only time it was tried was in 2022 to block some Israeli piracy site, and the federal court dropped the block within weeks after being hammered with first amendment lawsuits. What we are seeing happening in Spain, France, and all across the EU, is literally impossible in the US.
  - barrkel 12d ago
    What they do instead is scoop up execs when they travel through the US. Peter Dicks, David Carruthers State violence is used to ensure compliance, so that companies self-censor.
    - adventured 12d ago
      Well that's pretty easily avoided then. Don't travel through the US.
baud147258 12d ago
Here in France, while Polymarket is blocked, I was able to access Kalshi without any issue. But I didn't try to use Kalshi's services

account42 12d ago

Does the US also have a state-run betting monopoly that it grants excemptions to?

equinoxnemesis 12d ago
Some US states do!