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After a number of big announcements this week, its hip to be Square. Square announced several upgrades and features to its platform this week, including an expansion of tools for restaurant owners and operators, new intelligence capabilities under its Square AI suite, and the unveiling of Square Bitcoin, allowing platform users to conduct transactions in Bitcoin. As a cherry on top, Cash App, a sister company to Square under its parent firm, Block, also announced Neighborhoods, a feature that connects customers with local businesses, creating local networks in which customers can place orders and accumulate rewards points to spend with nearby businesses, and helps those businesses create followings and marketing channels all within Cash App itself. Squares announcements, made by company leaders at an event in New York City on Wednesday, made one thing fairly clear: Square has its sights set on being much more than a two-dimensional point-of-sale vendor. It wants to provide small businesses with an entire suite of technology and tools that can help those small businesses compete with much larger companies with vast resources, especially in the food and beverage space. Squares focus on food and beverage Lindsey Irvine, Squares chief marketing officer, tells Fast Company that Squares focus on the food and beverage industry, particularly as it relates to these recent announcements, is founded in the fact that restaurantsbe they diners, coffee shops, or full-service sit-down steakhousesare the lifeblood of many communities. One thing we looked at from the data standpoint, and a unique differentiator for Square, is that were the only solution that operates in every type of business in a given neighborhood, she says. And if you dig in, restaurants have the most vibrancy. That is, restaurants tend to see more foot traffic and conduct more transactions than most other types of businesses. So, theres a lot of data to be analyzed, and a lot of potential problems for business owners to solve. Accordingly, We want to plant a flag and build a platform for restaurants. Restaurants, Irvine says, are also fairly complicated to run, so creating a platform with restaurants in mind could be adopted by other business types with relative ease, which also made it an easy place for Square to start when developing its new tools and features. While Square is rolling out several new tools, Irvine says she thinks that its Order Guide, a tool that leverages AI to help restaurant owners dig into their revenue and costs and look for alternative suppliers, among other things, is likely the most exciting. I think, on a practical level, the Order Guide and the potential cost savings are big, she says. This is what restaurant owners talk about every day: increasing prices. The only option they have to find savings is to go through their list, vendor by vendor. There was no solution, she adds. But weve done that for them. At the event on Wednesday, restaurant owners on-handwhich included Henry Laporte, the co-owner of the three-month-old French Dip restaurant Salt Hanks, and Jake Dell, the fifth-generation owner of Katzs Deli, a 137-year-old New York City institutionshared their enthusiasm about the new tools, including the Order Guide. That could be big for us, Laporte said on stage during a panel discussion about the new tools. The price of beef has gone up 25% over the past month, he added, saying that it would be big if tools like Order Guide could help him look for alternative suppliers. Squaring up to whats ahead Looking ahead, Irvine says that Square plans to hold more events like the one in New Yorkwhich was the second Releases event the company has ever held. She envisions there being two per year, one on each U.S. coast, and perhaps even international events. The goal, she says, is to make Squares presence felt nationwide, especially on a neighborhood level, where some of Squares competitors may feel more distant. When her team is on the ground, speaking with business owners, theres a wild amount of pent-up demand for some of the features that Square is rolling out, Irvine says. People trust us, our POS is their lifeblood, and at the end of the day, were finding ways to help them grow. Were showing up authentically. While that doesnt necessarily mean that every mom-and-pop sandwich shop is going to dive headfirst into the Bitcoin ecosystemand Square Bitcoin is designed for, and only for, Bitcoin transactions, not other types of cryptocurrencyhaving the option to accept it is not something they can get through other broad platforms. To finish off the event, Square CEO Jack Dorsey, as a part of a fireside chat with Randy Garutti, the former CEO of Shake Shack and current board member for Block, said that Block itself is, in a way, coming full-circle back to its roots as it renews its focus on helping small businesses generate on-the-ground insights and beef up their point-of-sale platforms. Squares announcements, he says, help position Square and Block as a go-to business partner for whats to come. We want to be a company thats 10 steps ahead of a customer’s expectation and desire, Dorsey said. I think were now, finally, getting back to that, which is how we started the company. But Dorsey reiterates that even Squares early plans and goals underwent big revisions as he and others learned more about what its customer actually needed, rather than what they wanted to create for them. That, again, has resulted in some of the new feature and tool rollouts. There was no grand vision early on, Dorsey said. You have to feel it. You have to discover. Theres no true invention, he added. Being able to adapt, Dorsey said, is whats given Square the ability to come as far as it has. Those are the things that really break the company’s potential open. Theyre unexpected, he said. Those unexpected things are what gives you lasting power.
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E-Commerce
Connecting with Gen Z is crucial for brands, especially as teens and twenty-somethings gain spending power and influence. But doing so can be a bit of an art. Thats why a new crop of companies are offering translation services for brands that want to speak Gen Z’s language and, as they say, get “locked in.” While many Gen Z translation businesses are still in their infancy, The Wall Street Journal reported that it already represents a multimillion-dollar industry. Some analysts estimate that Gen Zs spending power is set to grow to $12.6 trillion by 2030, up from $9.8 trillion in 2024, according to the Journal. At the same time, Gen Z is far more digitally native than their predecessors, meaning they are far more used to getting information, shopping, and managing their lives online. They also seem extremely driven to make choices according to their values. According to a Lightspeed Commerce report, released earlier this year, 96% of Gen Z says they shop according to their values. Gen Z translators for brands Marketing agency NightyEightnamed after 1998, the first birth year for members of this generational groupstrategizes around the lives of real Gen Zers. The company uses insights from its Gen Z community, which it calls the “Koi Pond,” to figure out the best ways for brands to appeal to the generation. According to the company, NightyEight isn’t “just targeting Gen Z,” but “building the future of marketing with them.” According to Edelman, a company that formed in 2022 and has similar aims to NightyEight, brands need to think more strategically than ever to connect with Gen Z, because for this group, trends evolve very, very quickly. In a recent report titled “The Great Divide,” Edelman noted that “Gen Z is coming of age in a world that feels like it is simultaneously breaking apart and speeding up. Our society is a high-pressure environment, riddled with fear and uncertainty,” something that Gen Z is “hyperaware” of. “As a result, Zers have high hopes for brands. They are open to stronger two-way relationships, but they will also impose higher penalties when expectations are not met,” Edelman wrote. Values drive Gen Z choices Those insights are essential for brands that may not understand what Gen Z values, but should, analysts said. A hallmark of Gen Z is coming to age in a hyper-connected world. In this world, every follow, like, repost, and even purchase is a direct reflection of a persons identity and values, Lightspeed CEO Dax Dasilva previously told Fast Company. Through this connected world, there is a never-ending exposure to global issues, where activism, accountability, and cancel culture move at the speed of light. Perhaps fortunately for the brands that need most help relating to Gen Z, the generation seems extremely willing to speak up about what’s important to them. According to Celine Chai, one of the Gen Z founders of NightyEight, the generation is overtly interested in offering their insights. People write paragraphs, Chai told the Journal, referring to surveys of Gen Z. I dont think people try as hard in school.
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E-Commerce
Family members of dead celebrities including Robin Willians and George Carlin are calling foul over AI-generated videos of their loved ones appearing on OpenAIs new app, Sora. OpenAIs new video generation app is just a few weeks old, but it rapidly rocketed to the top of the U.S. Apple App Store within days of its release. And perhaps as rapidly, experts and creators raised copyright concerns around Sora, as the app appeared to let users create content of well-known cartoon characters and deepfakes of public figures. OpenAI has since curbed those kinds of videos, but The Washington Post and other outlets have reported that family members of dead celebrities dont think enough is being done to protect their loved ones likeness. When OpenAI launched Sora, it said videos of historical figures would not be limited in the same way as deep fakes of living public figures. What the families are saying about Sora On Tuesday, Robin Willians’ daughter, Zelda, took to Instagram to share a plea with followers. “Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad,” she wrote. “If you’ve got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop. It’s dumb, it’s a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it’s NOT what he’d want.” The late comedian George Carlin’s daughter, Kelly, expressed a similar view. She took to BlueSky to share her experience, writing that videos using her fathers likeness are both “overwhelming, and depressing.” Assassinated civil rights leader Malcolm Xs daughter told the Post that it is deeply disrespectful and hurtful to see my fathers image used in such a cavalier and insensitive manner when he dedicated his life to truth. OpenAI told the Post and other outlets that it would work with the families of recently deceased public figures to have their loved ones’ likeness removed from the app. “For public figures who are recently deceased, authorized representatives or owners of their estate can request that their likeness not be used in Sora cameos,” the company said. It remains unclear whether OpenAI will limit the use of more historical dead celebrities and public figures: Some videos on the app feature older deceased figures, including Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and Martin Luther King. Jr. Broader privacy, copyright concerns remain Experts are wary about the implications of Sora for creators and for privacy. “It’s as if deepfakes got a publicist and a distribution deal,” Daisy Soderberg-Rivkin, a former trust and safety manager at TikTok, told NPR. “It’s an amplification of something that has been scary for a while, but now it has a whole new platform.” The head of the Motion Picture Association said in a statement that OpenAI must take responsibility to prevent copyright infringement, and not put the burden on rights holders. Well-established copyright law safeguards the rights of creators and applies here. Others have flagged the apps potential to be used maliciously, including by users who might create videos to mock or bully others. It has no fidelity to history, it has no relationship to the truth, a misinformation expert told The Guardian. When cruel people get their hands on tools like this, they will use them for hate, harassment and incitement. OpenAI did not immediately respond to Fast Companys request for comment.
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E-Commerce
YouTube is giving some creators previously banned for spreading misinformation a chance to get back on the platform. The company opened up a pilot program on Thursday inviting YouTubers who were kicked off of the video sharing site under now-outdated rules to apply for a new channel. The company announced the second chance process last month, describing it as a limited pilot project for some creators, including those with channels banned under policies the platform has since abandoned. YouTubes announcement came the same day that the company issued a conciliatory letter to Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, who has pressured YouTube and other social media companies for years over unfounded claims that they deliberately censor conservative viewpoints. We've had a lot of questions about a pathway back to YouTube for some terminated creators to set up a new channel. This will be a limited pilot project that will be available to a subset of creators in addition to those channels terminated for policies that have been deprecated.— Updates From YouTube (@UpdatesFromYT) September 23, 2025 YouTubes changing rules Not all creators given the boot will be eligible for a second chance. YouTube notes that some types of channel terminations will stand, including bans for copyright infringement and for violations of its policies against abuse and violence off-platform. Channels eligible to be reinstated will see an option to request a fresh channel on YouTube Studio over the next few weeks, according to the company. We’re looking forward to providing an opportunity for creators to start fresh and bring their voice back to the platform, the company wrote in a blog post. As always, our Community Guidelines and other policies still apply to help us maintain a responsible business that viewers, creators, and advertisers rely on. If approved, creators previously banned from YouTube will be allowed to create a new channel from scratch not resurrect the channel that earned them the ban. While YouTube describes the program as a fresh start, creators will be allowed to re-upload old videos that dont violate the platforms policies in 2025. Once a new channel becomes eligible, previously banned creators wont face any restrictions on monetization. The pilot program applies to channels that have been offline for at least a year. For channels banned more recently, YouTube points creators to its existing appeals process. Creators that successfully appeal a ban can have their channels reinstated rather than going through the new pilot program. For social media companies, policies follow politics YouTube, like other social networks, has dismantled some content moderation policies in recent years. After building out a framework to limit the spread of misinformation during the Biden era, including rules punishing channels for election denialism after Jan. 6, YouTube is now backing away from many of those policies. The company said that it opted to sunset election misinformation rules to allow for discussion of possible widespread fraud, errors, or glitches occurring in the 2020 and other past U.S. presidential elections. Since 2023, YouTube has also rolled back rules specific to Covid-19 and vaccine-related misinformation, a fact the company highlights in the letter sent last month to Jordan. YouTube continues to enable a diversity of perspectives and believes creators should be able to openly debate political ideas on the platform, the company wrote in the letter. The community guidelines allow for a wider range of content on those topics now, according to YouTube. YouTube values conservative voices on its platform and recognized that these creators have extensive reach and play an important role in civic discourse, YouTube wrote in the letter. The Company recognizes that these creators are among those shaping todays online consumption, landing must-watch interviews, giving viewers the chance to hear directly from politicians, celebrities, business leaders, and more. Regulatory threats set the tone The decision to invite once-banned creators back comes as YouTube seeks to put itself in the good graces of President Trump and likeminded Republicans in Congress. In his second term, the Trump administration has been eager to reward loyalists and punish its perceived political enemies. Trump has already wielded threats from the FCC against broadcast networks airing critical content, but other agencies like the DOJ and FTC could also be aimed at the administrations critics. Just last week, YouTube agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit Trump filed in 2021 after breaking its rules against inciting violence during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Meta and X, formerly Twitter, also paid $25 million and $10 million respectively to settle parallel lawsuits from Trump after the former president again took office. None of the cases were regarded as particularly credible by legal experts, nor was another lawsuit against Paramount, which the company opted to settle in July for $16 million, paving the way for FCC approval of its lucrative merger.
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E-Commerce
The trade war between the U.S. and China is heating up: On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at Beijing after China said it would tighten control over rare earth mineral exports, with the president saying he would impose a new 100% duty on Chinese goodsover and above existing tariffs. The reignited trade war has rocked markets, particularly tech stocks, with the Nasdaq closing 3.6% down on Friday. Analysts are warning that the escalation could lead to an even more economically turbulent market outlook than was seen earlier this year after Trump made his Liberation Day tariff announcement. Trump made the threat on social media, writing that he would impose the new 100% tariff on Chinese goods by Nov. 1.,. Trump also said that the U.S. would limit exports of “any and all critical software.” It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is History, Trump wrote. Earlier on Friday, Trump indicated he might cancel an anticipated meeting with Chinas leader, Xi Jinping. One of the Policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States of America, he said on Friday in a post. There are many other countermeasures that are, likewise, under serious consideration. Why is the trade war escalating again now? Washingtons latest tit-for-tat comes after China announced new trade curbs on rare earth mineralsthe country controls the vast majority of these materials, which are vital for technology manufacturing, as well as for making magnets, batteries, and vehicles. Trump said that China’s move would clog the markets, and that Beijing was holding the world “captive.” Analysts have echoed the presidents concerns, with many cautioning that China’s new regulations will have major impacts for the U.S.’s ability to access materials necessary for technology manufacturing and even military equipment. “These restrictions undermine our ability to develop our industrial base at a time when we need to. And then second, it’s a powerful negotiating tool,” a critical minerals analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said, per NPR. Tariff threats roil markets, and analysts are worried U.S. markets responded quickly to the new tariff threats. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 876 points, while the S&P 500 fell 2.7%, and the Nasdaq composite closed 3.6% down. Tech stocks in particular took a hard hit: chipmaker Nvidia, Amazon, and EV-manufacturer Tesla fell by around 5%. And while the global economy has shown remarkable resilience so far in the face of trade upheaval and Trumps tariffs, analysts believe this period of turbulence is far from over. “This is all a game of high stakes poker going on between the US and China in this AI Revolution as we are also seeing more scrutiny in Beijing around Nvidia’s golden chips,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a research note to clients. Ives added, “These moments we view as buying opportunities to own the winners in semis, software, Big Tech, and the AI future as in our view these tensions will not bubble up into a much more tense time vs. the nervous period of time we saw in April.”
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E-Commerce
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