Instagram announced yesterday that it’s rolling out new teen user protections that mirror the rules governing movie ratings, and that teen accounts will be limited to seeing content that is PG-13. So, keep it clean, folks: Using more than one f-bomb could now get you booted from the teens’ feeds.

How we got here: Facing backlash over how kids interact with its platforms, Meta started automatically making any Instagram account set up by someone under the age of 18 a “Teen Account” last year. This sets the account to private, pauses notifications from 10pm to 7am, and limits what kind of content can be seen in Reels or on the Explore page.

The new restrictions will further constrain what content teens can access:

• They will block entire accounts that post 18+ content, such as drugs, sex, and maybe even rock ’n’ roll, from teens’ view, and prevent teen users from following handles that have inappropriate usernames or links in bios directing people to sites like OnlyFans or liquor stores.
• The new rules will apply even in cases where teens have already been following an “adult” account (they won’t be able to view the offending content anymore).
• The change will also bar teens from seeing search results for things like “gore” and “alcohol.”

The bots have to follow the rules too

This is the first safety update that Meta has implemented for the AI chatbots that Instagram recently introduced.

A report from Reuters released in August found that Meta’s AI rules let these bots have “sensual” DMs with minors. The new rules say these chats won’t go past PG-13 topics with users under 18.

Big picture: Tech companies have been bombarded with public and political pressure to address the unsavory content they seem to be feeding underage users for as long as you could set your relationship status to “it’s complicated” for attention. Spotify also announced new parental controls in its app yesterday, and Sam Altman provided an update on ChatGPT: Now that it’s implemented age-gating, the chatbot is ready to go full-steam-ahead on erotica for adults only in December.—MM

Business is booming at big banks. The biggest banks in the US started earnings season off with a bang yesterday, with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup all beating Q3 profit forecasts, as dealmaking, trading, and corporate lending all surged. Goldman is headed toward its best year ever for its main investment banking unit, the Wall Street Journal reports, and JPMorgan took in $8.9 billion in trading revenue last quarter, a record for Q3. But even with the stock market soaring and businesses diving back into mergers and acquisitions, choppier waters may lie ahead. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon noted that recent auto industry bankruptcies flashed a red flag for the private credit market, saying, “When you see one cockroach, there are probably more.”

Bodies of some deceased hostages returned to Israel as ceasefire is tested. Yesterday, Hamas released the bodies of four hostages under the first stage of a peace agreement that had previously seen the release of all 20 living Israeli hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. However, with the next steps still needing to be worked out, both sides accused the other of violating the ceasefire. Earlier, Israel said it would only allow half of the agreed-upon humanitarian aid into Gaza in a bid to push Hamas to release the remains of the rest of the deceased hostages as promised. Meanwhile, Hamas said Israeli troops had killed several people in Gaza, in violation of the ceasefire deal. One issue that remains is whether Hamas will disarm—something the group has not publicly agreed to but President Trump said yesterday they would do or “we will disarm them.”

JPow hints at more interest rate cuts to come. While Fed Chair Jerome Powell didn’t outright say the central bank would continue to chop interest rates, his remarks at an economic conference in Philadelphia suggested that the weakening labor market will require further cuts despite inflation. Although the government shutdown precludes new official economic data, Powell said “the outlook for employment and inflation does not appear to have changed much since our September meeting,” which is when the Fed cut rates for the first time this year. The speech left economists anticipating a rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting on Oct. 28–29, with another cut to follow. Powell also suggested the Fed may soon stop shrinking its portfolio of assets, a move that could also slightly lower borrowing costs.—AR

For once, it’s worth listening to tariff commentary from armchair experts—specifically, when it comes to the import duties on furniture and wood entering the US that went into effect yesterday.

Importers will now pay a 10% tariff on softwood lumber and timber, which largely come from Canada. There’s also a new 25% duty on kitchen cabinets, vanities, and upholstered wooden furniture. Cabinet and vanity tariffs will rise to 50% on Jan. 1, while furniture tariffs will go to 30%.

Close to home

The Trump administration says the tariffs are a boon to US manufacturers in former furniture-making hubs like North Carolina, which have struggled to compete with cheaper foreign furniture. But:

• Experts say that, while taxing furniture imports could help some domestic manufacturers compete, American retailers and furniture-makers importing components might face higher costs, forcing them to raise prices.
• Some industry insiders expect the tariffs to affect selection more than prices, as furniture sellers might limit their imported offerings to the highest-margin products.

Meanwhile, economists worry that taxing imports of products used to build and furnish houses could further slow homebuying and home improvement, which have already been hit by elevated interest rates.

The ships carrying couches…are also caught in the trade war, after the US and China started charging each other’s ships port fees yesterday. Both countries cited the need to promote domestic shipbuilding.—SK

The next time you ask ChatGPT for help with an anniversary gift under $20, you will be able to get that relationship-ending picture frame from within that conversation, thanks to a new partnership between Walmart and OpenAI.

Soon, customers will be able to link their Walmart or Sam’s Club accounts to ChatGPT for seamless shopping should the bot that’s writing your work emails include a Walmart item among its suggestions (it will still also list items from other, non-partner places). It’s part of the “agentic commerce” trend, where bots become personal shoppers and the tech companies get a piece of the sale:

• OpenAI recently began allowing products to be purchased in ChatGPT directly from Etsy as part of its “Instant Checkout” program, which will soon also include Shopify.
• Perplexity began offering a similar integration last year with Shopify, Best Buy, and Target.

Investors love it: Walmart stock closed up nearly 5% yesterday.

Walmart’s all-in on AI: In June, the biggest US retailer launched Sparky, its own AI assistant designed to help customers find items on the Walmart website. Despite the narrative of AI taking jobs, Sparky is sticking around despite ChatGPT joining the team.—DL

The Department of Justice is now sitting on a pile of bitcoin that would make even Satoshi’s earliest followers jealous. The government seized about $15 billion worth of the digital currency from wallets registered to a business owner it claims was running a massive “pig butchering” fraud ring. The DOJ called it the largest forfeiture operation in its history.

Despite the name, “pig butchering” involves no actual pork chops, just making an emotional connection to the victim to metaphorically fatten them up for slaughter (which, in more literal terms, is just taking their money):

• The DOJ is accusing Chen Zhi, the founder and head of the Cambodia-based multinational conglomerate Prince Holding Group, of actually heading up an international criminal operation that has caused “billions of dollars in losses and untold misery to victims around the world.”
• The Treasury Department also designated Prince as a criminal organization that US companies can’t do business with.
• In an indictment filed in New York, prosecutors allege that the company trafficked people into forced labor and made them engage in scams where the victims handed over crypto they were falsely promised would be invested.

Although the DOJ has the bitcoin, Chen remains at large.—AR