Hi Shopifreaks
Happy New Year! I've got something special for you today — my fourth annual 2026 E-commerce Predictions Report!
Every year I ask you, “What are your e-commerce predictions for next year?” My annual report curates those submissions alongside predictions from published posts by e-commerce industry leaders to help shed light on where e-commerce is trending in the near future so that you can stay ahead of the curve. (Just like this newsletter helps you do throughout the year.)
Check out the full report and then hit reply to this e-mail and let me know which predictions you think got it right and which ones got it wrong.
Hope you have a great new years, and I'll see you in 2026!
In this week's edition I cover:
- 2026 E-commerce Predictions Highlights
- OpenAI's ad mockups
- Instacart ends its dynamic pricing experiment
- TikTok Shop launches gift cards
- China's new e-commerce rules
- Alexa's new booking capabilities
- TikTok Shop's $8 swastika necklace
- Senators vs Amazon Autos
- A new global e-commerce value database
- Nvidia acqui-licenses Groq tech
- Spotify got Spotified
All this and more in this week's 258th Edition of Shopifreaks. Thanks for subscribing and sharing!
Stat of the Week
The AI-driven stock market boom added more than $500B to the wealth of America's richest tech titans in 2025 and created over 50 new billionaires worldwide, according to Forbes. Elon Musk saw is wealth jump almost 50% to $645B, making him the first person in history to surpass $500B in personal wealth. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's net worth rose by $41.8B to $159B as the company's valuation crossed $5 trillion.
1. Top E-commerce Predictions 2026
As I mentioned in the intro, I published my fourth annual 2026 E-commerce Predictions report today just in time for the new year. Thank you to everyone who submitted predictions. Below I'm going to highlight a few of my favorites that highlight trends you should pay attention to in the year ahead.
“The Internet is about to get paywalled and AI-gated like never before.”
That's my big prediction of the year. AI companies are creating an unsustainable environment for publishers, and the best ones aren't going to continue writing for the LLMs for free. In 2026 we're going to see more publishers paywall and AI-gate their content to avoid having it ingested and disseminated by AI platforms.
“Sellers will lose control of pricing.”
Daniel Sodkiewicz of GeekSeller feels that online marketplace pricing is “chaotic, unpredictable, and extremely inefficient” and predicts that 2026 will be the year that major marketplaces change how pricing works for 3P sellers. He describes the current system as a “giant loop” that is “confusing for customers and expensive for retailers,” and shares his prediction on how marketplaces will bring a version of their 1P pricing model to 3P sellers.
“Power and Water Shortages Disrupt Global Chip and AI Infrastructure Expansion“
Richard Barnett of Supplyframe envisions a year where environmental stressors will “dominate tech infrastructure headlines as droughts and grid strain emerge as critical chokepoints.” He predicts that semiconductor manufacturing hubs in water-stressed regions like Taiwan and southwestern U.S. will face “mounting operational limits” as a result of drought conditions and depleted reservoirs, causing chip manufacturers to have to scale back or relocate.
“We will see marketplaces compete for the right 3P sellers, and some power shift from platforms to brands.”
E-commerce analyst François Maingret predicts a shift in power from platforms back to brands as marketplaces are forced to compete for 3P sellers. He believes that new competition in the space will result in “better terms and services for the best brands.”
“Fraud becomes one of the most expensive line items in ecommerce”
Dan Holden, the Chief Information Security Officer at Commerce, predicts that fraud transactions go “from a nuisance cost to one of the largest operating expenses in ecommerce, reshaping margins and business models across the industry.” He foresees that AI automation of fraud attacks will make fraud a “permanent financial pressure rather than an occasional threat.”
Check out the full 2026 E-commerce Predictions report for more insights into trends that will shape our industry in the year ahead.
2. OpenAI's vision for advertising is beginning to take shape
OpenAI employees are discussing ways for AI models to prioritize sponsored information in ChatGPT answers, according to The Information sources. Here's what they learned:
- OpenAI does not plan to inject advertising logistic into the main model powering ChatGPT.
- Instead it plans to create new models specifically built to evaluate whether a conversation is relevant for advertising and then pull the most relevant ads into ChatGPT responses.
- For example, an ad sponsored by Wrangler could appear when someone is searching for recommendations for best travel pants.
- A source told The Information that OpenAI employees have been creating mockups for different ways that ads could appear within the AI answers.
- For example, some mockups show sponsored information appearing in a sidebar to the main ChatGPT response window, while others include them with the main answer alongside a disclosure saying that it includes sponsored results.
- Ads could appear right away or show up in a secondary step after a user has expressed interest in finding more information about a product or service.
A few weeks ago I reported that code was found in a beta version of ChatGPT's Android app that included references to an ads feature. I also shared a brief timeline of Sam Altman's on-again, off-again feelings towards bringing ads to ChatGPT.
A week later, OpenAI denied reports that it rolled out ads on ChatGPT Plus after users spotted recommendations for the Target shopping app appearing in answers, but then later danced around the fact that brand recommendations surfacing in AI answers could feel like ads.
Why the reluctance to talk openly about advertising?
It's no secret that OpenAI desperately needs to monetize its free userbase in order to drive enough revenue to offset its crazy expenditures, and that advertising is the most likely way to do so. Code that references advertising has been spotted in their apps, Sam Altman has noticeably changed his position about advertising, users are starting to see advertising being tested, and now OpenAI staffers are straight up admitting to journalists that they're working on mockups to display ads in results.
With all that out there, why not be more forthcoming about the fact that ads are coming to ChatGPT and involve users and the public in the process along the way? Otherwise what's the move later?
At this point, Internet users have come to accept the fact that advertising pays for the free services they enjoy. No need to add any spin to it. Involving users in the development process could soften the blow when ads inevitably surface in ChatGPT answers, as well as provide OpenAI with ongoing public feedback along the way, which could ultimately improve the final product.
Then again, maybe I expect too much transparency from a company with the word “Open” in their name.
3. Instacart ends its controversial dynamic pricing experiment
A few weeks ago I reported that Instacart had been running AI enabled pricing experiments that charged different customers different prices for the same grocery items, with variations reaching up to 23% per item, according to an investigation by Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative.
Researchers found that about three quarters of tested products were priced differently across users at retailers including Kroger, Costco, Target, Safeway, and Albertsons. Instacart confirmed the experiments, which it called “smart rounding,” but claimed they involved a limited number of retail partners and had a small impact, however the findings showed that every tested shopper was subject to price variation.
Flash forward a few weeks and Instacart announced that it is ending the experiments.
The company wrote in a blog post:
“We’ve listened carefully to feedback from our customers. And we understand that the tests we ran with a small number of retail partners that resulted in different prices for the same item at the same store missed the mark for some customers. At a time when families are working exceptionally hard to stretch every grocery dollar, those tests raised concerns, leaving some people questioning the prices they see on Instacart. That’s not okay – especially for a company built on trust, transparency, and affordability.”
“That’s why, effective immediately, Instacart is ending all item price tests on our platform. Retailers will no longer be able to use Eversight technology to run item price tests on Instacart.”
The announcement goes on to promise that if two families are shopping for the “same items, at the same time, from the same store location” on Instacart, that they will see the same prices. So basically the way everyone assumed it was before.
Then they got a little defensive and sassy:
“Even though these tests were not dynamic pricing or surveillance pricing – and were never based on supply or demand, personal data, demographics, or individual shopping behavior – we’ve listened carefully to the feedback from our customers, and we understand these tests fell short of their expectations. We want families to feel confident that when they shop on Instacart, the prices they see are clear, straightforward and easy to understand.”
Honestly their use of the word “families” throughout the entire announcement felt demeaning, but that's neither here nor there.
When will companies get it through their heads? CONSUMERS DON'T WANT DYNAMIC PRICING!
I hope that we continue to name and shame retailers, restaurants, marketplaces, and platforms that employ the practice. I'll certainly continue to do my part in amplifying the message.
4. TikTok Shop launches digital gift cards
TikTok Shop rolled out a new feature that allows users to purchase digital gift cards that enable recipients to purchase items from its marketplace. Users can load the gift cards with anything from $10 to $500 and personalize them with animated designs for specific occasions like birthdays, weddings, or to say “thank you” or “sorry for cheating on you.”
The gift cards, which are currently only available in the U.S. for now, are delivered via e-mail, and the recipient must have a TikTok account to spend them. The company says it plans to add additional personalization features such as the ability to attach a video message to the cards or include an “interactive unboxing that captures their reaction in real-time.”
Brilliant idea from TikTok for a few reasons:
- Gift cards bring more money into a retail ecosystem, which can benefit all sellers on the platform.
- People love buying gift cards! The global gift card market is valued at over $1 trillion in 2025, and over $230B in the U.S. alone.
- Amazon is ranked as the top merchant for gift cards in the U.S. and likely sells hundreds of millions of gift cards each year, though it doesn't disclose a total amount.
- Amazon’s unredeemed gift card liability was reported at about $5.4B as of the end of 2024, so that should give you some indication of how many gift cards they sell.
- Nobody knows each others mailing addresses anymore. Digital gift cards will allow friends to shop for each other on TikTok without having to ruin the surprise by asking for their address.
- Purchasing a gift card is an easy, quick decision to make. TikTok will be able to prompt users with messages like, “Hey it's Paul's birthday today! Want to send him a personalized digital gift card?”
- Gift cards become one more tool that TikTok can use to incentivize creators on its platform, with amounts that have real value, but ultimately feed back into its ecosystem.
I look forward to seeing how gift cards play out for TikTok. I predict that the move is going to be a big success in regards to generating additional GMV to TikTok Shop. What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.
5. China creates new rules for e-commerce & AI platforms
China unveiled a 29-article regulation barring e-commerce platforms from forcing merchants into “lowest price” agreements, setting prices based on user data without consent, and other practices that inhibit the rights of merchants and consumers.
Scheduled to take effect on April 10, 2026, the rules specifically prohibit operators from:
- leveraging their dominant scale to impose “lowest price” agreements
- using traffic throttling, search ranking demotions, or algorithm penalties to pressure merchants into predatory price-cutting or exclusive pricing arrangements
- setting different prices or charging standards for the same goods or services “without user consent” based on data
- displaying lower prices on homepages or other prominent locations other than those shown on product detail pages
- not transparently displaying the term “advertisement” for goods or services appearing in paid search rankings
China is also aiming to combat AI companion addiction.
The country's cyber authority has released draft regulations to strengthen oversight of AI services that mimic human interaction, requiring providers to warn users about excessive use and intervene when addictive behavior is detected.
The proposed rules would require AI platforms to monitor users' emotional states and addiction levels and take action when things get extreme. Content that “endangers national security, spreads rumours or promotes violence or obscenity” would be banned.
California is implementing similar rules in 2026 to ensure chatbots don't engage in conversations about suicide, self-harm, or sexually explicit content, and by 2027, AI companies will be required to face annual transparency and reporting requirements designed to help regulators understand the phycological risks their systems bring to users.
6. Alexa+ adds integrations for Expedia, Yelp, Angi, and Square
Amazon announced new integrations for Alexa+ with Expedia, Yelp, Angi, and Square, allowing users to discover and book services directly through voice commands starting in 2026. The partnerships aim to transform the assistant from a passive information retriever into an active agent capable of executing complex transactions, such as finalizing hotel reservations or scheduling appointments with wellness providers.
Daniel Rausch, VP of Alexa and Echo, said:
“We understand that a truly useful personal assistant needs to connect with services that customers rely on every day. Every new integration we add brings Alexa+ closer to handling more of life’s everyday tasks, changing how customers interact, discover, and book services. We can't wait for customers to experience these new capabilities and are excited to continue adding even more.”
Here's what the new integrations will offer:
- Expedia will give travelers the ability to discover hotels and vacation rental options that meet their needs, as well as make reservations and manage their bookings. Realistically I'm going to need to see photos of the hotel I'm about to book, but perhaps the integration with Expedia can help me do some of that initial research via voice while washing dishes.
- Integrations with Angi and Yelp will expand the number of home services available to customers through Alexa+, enabling them to search, find, and request quotes from local vendors.
- Lastly the Square integration will allow customers to discover local beauty and wellness providers in Square’s network, including spas, hair and nail salons, and barbershops, and then subsequently make, manage, and reschedule appointments with Alexa.
I'm personally not ready to do all of those things start to finish exclusively via voice conversations, but I do like the idea of starting my research via voice, narrowing down my criteria, and then giving the options a final review on my laptop or mobile device before moving forward with a booking — which is possible with Alexa, given that the assistant can access and continue past chats across devices.
As you might recall, Alexa has been able to trigger things like Uber rides, restaurant reservations, and orders through third party skills going back as far as 2015, but those actions worked as separate skills you had to enable and use explicitly. They weren’t deeply conversational, meaning Alexa would relay the request to the partner API after you invoked the specific skill.
Whereas now, these new Alexa+ integrations can handle discovery and booking inside a single conversation, instead of handing users off to individual partner skills. This is a more advanced, contextual, generative experience compared with its classic skills from a decade ago.
7. TikTok Shop removes an $8 swastika necklace from its platform
TikTok removed a swastika necklace from one seller's TikTok shop after users reported seeing the product advertised in their feeds in the days after Hanukkah.
The $8 necklace was labeled as “Hiphop titanium steel pendant” and described by the Chinese seller as a “simple swastika symbol… suitable for both boys and girls, trendy and niche.”
Following complaints by users, TikTok removed the necklace from TikTok Shop, but the seller remains active and continues to sell other necklaces, including a tarot card pendant, a St. Michael pendant, and a necklace bearing the phrase “Bring Them Home–Now!” in English alongside the Hebrew text “Our heart is held captive in Gaza,” a message supporting Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
The advocacy organization Jewish on Campus condemned the listing:
“When symbols tied to antisemitism and white supremacy are marketed on a major social platform, the Jewish community is impacted with shock and fear. Swastikas aren’t only a representation of a dark past. They continue to be used against us today. It’s frightening, and it’s unacceptable.”
In 2020, Shein removed a $2.50 swastika necklace from its site after the listing sparked similar backlash online. The company said at the time that the listing wasn’t for a Nazi swastika, but for:
“a Buddhist swastika which has symbolized spirituality and good fortune for more than a thousand years. The Nazi swastika has a different design, it is pointed clockwise and tilted at an angle. However, because we understand the two symbols can be confused and one is highly offensive, we have removed the product from our site.”
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this particular Chinese seller, who has a 4.4-star rating and has sold more than 5,000 products on TikTok Shop, did not list the swastika necklace out of malice towards Jews, but out of ignorance in regards to what the symbol means in Western culture.
I've spent many years traveling and often come across words, brands, and symbols that don't mean the same as they do in the U.S. or in other Western cultures. For example, down here in Ecuador I've seen a bicycle brand called “Kike” (which is a derogatory word for Jewish people), and just last week I walked into a used car dealership called “FAG Motors.” Words and symbols mean different things in different places.
As Shein pointed out in 2020, the swastika symbol predates the Nazis by several millennia. Across different cultures, the swastika has historically symbolized good fortune, prosperity, protection, and spiritual well-being, particularly in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and other ancient traditions, long before its appropriation by the Nazis.
Frankly I say it's about time we took the symbol and its meaning back. Fuck the Nazis! However in the meantime, I certainly understand how seeing a swastika necklace in your TikTok feed can be off putting and cause outrage. The situation demonstrates the important cultural nuances involved with selling internationally.
8. Senators demand Amazon Autos remove used cars with open recalls
Three U.S. Senators are demanding that Amazon pull car listings with open recalls from its Amazon Autos marketplace and urging the company to warn buyers about vehicles with safety risks. Senators Richard Blumenthal, Edward Markey, and Elizabeth Warren said they were “extremely troubled” by Amazon offering vehicles with unresolved recalls and argued that Amazon should not expect customers to check recall status themselves.
New vehicles can't legally be sold in the U.S. if they have unaddressed recalls, but there is no similar rule for used cars, so the Senators are proposing a Used Car Safety Recall Repair Act to close that loophole, which would apply to all used car platforms (not just Amazon Autos).
The Senators wrote in their letter:
“Selling cars with unrepaired safety recalls is extremely dangerous and poses a potentially fatal threat to vehicle drivers, passengers, and others on the road. Amazon’s suggestion to consumers to check a vehicle’s recall status themselves on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) website is simply insufficient. We call on Amazon to remove all vehicle listings with unrepaired safety recalls and to directly display to prospective vehicle buyers a vehicle’s recall status.”
Why are the Senators specifically targeting Amazon in their letter?
Amazon Autos currently holds an insignificant share of the used auto sales market in the U.S. compared to Carvana, CarMax, AutoNation, Cars.com, Autotrader, eBay, and other established online auto marketplaces — which also sell used cars with open recalls. Where were their letters?
I respect the intention of these Senators to bring recall transparency to the online market for used cars, but exclusively targeting Amazon feels personal.
9. Other e-commerce news of interest
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched the first global database consolidating national estimates of e-commerce value to create a clearer picture of digital commerce worldwide. Until now, e-commerce data was fragmented, inconsistent, or missing entirely across countries, whereas the new database aims to standardize measurement and reveal how much economic activity is actually happening online. The data shows e-commerce sales are growing significantly faster than GDP, and that e-commerce is now a core part of a country's economic infrastructure rather than a side channel. The move aims to close long-standing data gaps and lay the groundwork for more precise regulation, taxation, and digital trade rules in the future. Always about those taxes!
Deloitte conducted an 8-week review of Whole Foods‘ use of Microsoft 365 applications and found that the company's fragmented tools and weak security led to “inefficiency” at Amazon, according to an internal document reviewed by Business Insider. The consulting firm recommended a 24-month integration plan that would first move Whole Foods' corporate employees onto Amazon's backend system, followed by its frontline workers, which it says would ensure a “smooth transition for users and minimal disruption to business processes.” Deloitte promises that it did not use AI to create that report. LOL. The report was published back in May, and it's unclear whether Amazon and Whole Foods have since adopted the full set of recommendations.
Google and OpenAI chatbots are being manipulated by users to generate non-consensual deepfake images that strip women down to bikinis, confirmed by WIRED through “limited tests” for research purposes only, LOL. The issue surfaced in Reddit communities like r/ChatGPTJailbreak, where users traded tips on bypassing safety guardrails before Reddit banned the forum for violating sitewide rules following contact by WIRED. When asked for comment, a Google spokesperson said the company has “clear policies that prohibit the use of AI tools to generate sexually explicit content,” while an OpenAI spokesperson admitted that the company loosened some ChatGPT guardrails earlier this year around adult bodies, but that its usage policy prohibited users from altering someone else's likeness without consent. So users are on the honor system?
Amazon is looking to hire a leader in corporate development to help form agentic commerce partnerships, according to a recent job post spotted by CNBC. Until now, the company has blocked external AI shopping agents from accessing its site, updating its robots.txt to restrict 47 different bots while simultaneously promoting its own tools like Rufus and Buy For Me. However now CEO Andy Jassy said that the company expects to eventually partner with third-party agents and has already held conversations with some providers, though no companies were named.
Google is quietly testing a long-requested feature that allows users to rename their primary @gmail.com address without creating a new account or having to migrate data. That way you can continue to login with the same Google account you've had since you were 12 years old, but without having to send job applications from your [email protected] e-mail address. The feature, which was spotted on the company's Hindi support pages, automatically converts the original e-mail address into a permanent alias so that e-mails continue to deliver indefinitely, and the original address will still work for signing in to Google services like Drive, Maps and YouTube. The update imposes a 12-month cooldown period between changes, indicating that it's not designed for you to change your e-mail constantly. Google has not formally announced the change or confirmed which regions will receive access first.
Starbucks hired Anand Varadarajan as its new chief technology officer to lead a technology overhaul aimed at improving labor efficiency across its stores. Varadarajan spent the last 19 years working at Amazon, most recently leading technology and supply chain for the company's worldwide grocery stores business. Starbucks is planning for the leadership transition to support a turnaround strategy under CEO Brian Niccol following the company's first quarter of comparable sales growth in nearly 18 months.
OpenAI is looking to hire a Head of Preparedness, a new executive role responsible for studying emerging AI-related risks in areas ranging from cyber security to mental health, according to a post by Sam Altman on X. Altman wrote, “We have a strong foundation of measuring growing capabilities, but we are entering a world where we need more nuanced understanding and measurement of how those capabilities could be abused, and how we can limit those downsides both in our products and in the world, in a way that lets us all enjoy the tremendous benefits. These questions are hard and there is little precedent; a lot of ideas that sound good have some real edge cases.” Compensation for the role is listed as $555k + equity.
TikTok is planning to raise bonus payments and other compensation incentives in 2026 to attract new hires and retain top performers, according to a memo viewed by Business Insider. In its upcoming annual performance reviews, the company aims to spend 50% more globally on bonuses and raises across all departments compared to the previous year in order to keep top talent happy. The memo noted that a larger portion of bonuses will arrive as cash instead of stock options to appeal to staffers who are unsure of the potential liquidity of their equity after the company spins off its U.S. unit. TikTok is also aiming to attract more U.S. merchants to its platform by offering up to $6,000 in coupons and up to $22,800 in other incentives, according to a letter viewed by Digiday.
Remember last week when I reported that Coupang suffered a massive data breach that exposed personal details of 34M South Korean users, representing over 90% of the country's working-age population? Well, now the company is being sued in a U.S. federal court by investors for securities fraud, claiming that Coupang's CEO and Chairman Bom Kim and its CFO Gaurav Anand misled them about the company’s data security practices and failed to disclose the breach in a timely manner. The lawsuit also claims that Coupang executives submitted U.S. regulatory filings that understated the company’s vulnerability to cyberattacks and overstated its safeguards. The company's founder, Bom Kim, finally issued a public apology over the incident, but continued to decline calls from South Korean lawmakers to appear at parliamentary hearings related to the data breach and other accidents at the company.
John Carreyrou, the New York Times investigative journalist who exposed the Theranos fraud, and five other authors filed a lawsuit against xAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, Meta, and Perplexity for allegedly using copyrighted books to train their LLMs without permission, marking the first copyright case to name xAI as a defendant. Unlike other pending cases, the writers are not seeking to band together in a larger class action lawsuit in order to avoid defendants negotiating a single settlement that extinguishes “thousands upon thousands of high-value claims at bargain-basement rates.” Carreyrou’s legal team says that the recent $1.5B Anthropic settlement provided authors with only a “tiny fraction” (just 2%) of the potential $150,000 statutory damages per infringed work.
Amazon is facing a motion for sanctions after plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit alleged the company destroyed an “untold number” of documents relevant to COVID-19 price-gouging claims. The original suit alleges the company illegally raised prices on essential goods by more than 1,000% during the early days of the pandemic. The filing argues that Amazon failed to issue a litigation hold for months after the 2020 complaint was filed, resulting in the permanent deletion of critical pricing records and employee communications. U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik previously noted the retailer waited nearly six months to notify employees of the preservation requirement, a delay that plaintiffs claim gives Amazon an unfair evidentiary advantage.
Speaking of deleting records… Shopify has been ordered by Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal to suspend its standard policy of deleting inactive merchant records after two years while its dispute with the Canada Revenue Agency continues over a request for merchant data. Shopify and the Canada Revenue Agency have been battling it out since 2023 when the agency requested that the platform backchannel six years of records for all Canadian stores, which Shopify called an “outrageous” request. CRA lost the last court battle but has since filed an appeal, so the Federal Court of Appeal is making sure that evidence doesn't get deleted on Shopify's end.
Etsy is suing the Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturers Institute over its ongoing attempts to hold the company accountable for false advertising of some Cashmere items sold on its marketplace, aiming for affirmation that it is protected by Section 230 and thus not liable for content added by its 3rd party sellers. CCMI has been investigating Etsy for years, purchasing products advertised as “cashmere” from various sellers and sending them to laboratories for fiber-content testing, only to discover that many of the items did not meet labeling standards under the federal Wool Products Labeling Act. CCMI and Etsy have been on-again off-again in court for the past few years over various lawsuits, but now Etsy has had enough and is seeking to block CCMI's demands to manually scrutinize over 100M listings, arguing that the trade group's aggressive enforcement would force a “wholesale redesign” of its business model.
Apple is seeking to overturn a £1.5B UK court ruling that found it overcharged millions of consumers from 2015 to 2024 through App Store commissions. The case is one of several UK class actions targeting Apple and Google, with consumers and developers collectively seeking more than £6B in compensation over app store fees. Regulators and claimants argue commissions of up to 30% breached competition law, but Apple says most apps pay 15% and that its app ecosystem remains competitive. (Against who? Google, the only other mobile app marketplace?) Additional trials tied to these claims are scheduled for 2026.
OpenAI admitted that its Atlas AI browser may be prone to prompt injections, a type of attack that manipulates AI agents to follow malicious instructions, for the foreseeable future. The company wrote in a blog post, “Prompt injection, much like scams and social engineering on the web, is unlikely to ever be fully solved.” However it hopes it'll be able to “identify new attack patterns earlier, close gaps faster, and continuously raise the cost of exploitation.” Honestly, you should read the whole blog post because after reading it myself, I've come to the conclusion that Atlas AI is NOT a safe browser!
Flexshopper, a lease-to-own payment platform that allows consumers with limited or no credit to purchase goods through flexible installment plans, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, seeking to restructure debt while continuing operations. The company reported minimal remaining assets and has already been delisted from Nasdaq following repeated failures to file required financial reports. The filing follows the termination of former CEO Russell Heiser in August after an internal investigation alleged that he forged loan documents, and includes a proposed sale of the business to an affiliate of Snap Finance.
Amazon says it has blocked more than 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents who have tried to apply for remote working IT jobs using stolen or fake identities. Amazon's chief security officer Stephen Schmidt said, “Their objective is typically straightforward: get hired, get paid, and funnel wages back to fund the regime's weapons programs,” adding that the trend is likely happening at scale across the industry. You might have a North Korean agent working for your company right now!
Italy's antitrust authority ordered Meta to immediately suspend contractual clauses that prevent third-party AI chatbots from operating on the WhatsApp Business platform, as it investigates the company for abusing its dominant position. The regulator alleges that blocking competitors stifles innovation and restricts market access for rival agents. Meta called the decision “fundamentally flawed” and plans to appeal, arguing that external AI bots place a technical strain on systems not designed to support them. The move coordinates with a parallel probe launched by the European Commission last month over the same allegations.
In other news of Italy cracking down on U.S. tech… the country's competition authority fined Apple over €98.6M for abusing its dominant market position through privacy rules that disadvantage third-party developers and restrict competition in its app ecosystem. The agency said that Apple's App Tracking Transparency policy, introduced in April 2021, violates Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits abuse of dominant market positions. The authority also said the way Apple implemented ATT forced developers to duplicate consent prompts, reduced the effectiveness of ad personalization, and exempted Apple’s own advertising business from the same friction, leading to self-preferencing and discriminatory treatment within the iOS app ecosystem.
Last but not least this week in the EU… As part of its agreement with the European Commission to follow rules of the Digital Services Act, TikTok committed to introducing additional search options and filters, allowing users to find advertisements more easily, as well as provide targeting criteria selected by advertisers, including the URLs in the link provided in the ad. It will also provide access to aggregated user data such as gender, age group, and the state in which the users who were reached are located, so that people can discover how ads are targeted and delivered. The commitments follow formal DSA proceedings opened in 2024 and findings on ad transparency published earlier this year.
Squarespace launched an advertising campaign called “Dream It, Domain It” that aims to position domain selection as a creative identity decision by showing how naming can be as expressive as visual design. The campaign highlights a range of more than 400 top-level domains such as .dance, .coach, and .rock — showing how creative domain endings can reflect the personality and purpose of a business. Nice try Squarespace, but everyone still wants the .com TLD. Without it, someone else will always be getting your website traffic and e-mails.
🏆 This week's most ridiculous story… A hacktivist group scraped 300 terabytes of music and metadata from Spotify and plans to begin offering it for free in what it calls the world's first “fully open” music preservation archive. The group behind the act, Anna's Archive, said it couldn't pass up an opportunity to scrape Spotify at scale and claims to have archived roughly 86M of the platform's 256M music files, which it says account for 99.6% of listens. The group called the act a “humble attempt to start a ‘preservation archive' for music” in order to protect “humanity's musical heritage” from “destruction by natural disasters, wars, budget cuts, and other catastrophes.” A Spotify spokesperson said in a statement, “Hey don't steal our music! We stole it first, fair and square!”
10. Seed rounds, IPOs, & acquisitions
Nvidia agreed to pay approximately $20B to license technology from Groq, an AI chip startup that has raised about $1.75B since launch, and hire its founding team, including CEO Jonathan Ross. The agreement gives Nvidia access to Groq’s specialized SRAM-based architecture, which optimizes inference speeds by minimizing data shuttling, addressing a specific efficiency gap in the company's GPU lineup. After rumors started circulating that Nvidia “acquired” the company, they quickly clarified that it wasn't an acquisition, but rather a “non-exclusive licensing agreement” for Groq's inference technology, which The Information says is the same “type of transaction Microsoft, Google and Amazon have used over the last two years to hire key AI talent and license technology from several high profile startups without formally acquiring them and triggering regulatory reviews.” Groq, which recently slashed its 2025 revenue projections by 75%, will continue to operate its new cloud business independently under incoming CEO Simon Edwards.
Olo, a restaurant ordering and payments software company that was acquired by Thoma Bravo earlier this year, acquired Spendgo, a customer loyalty and engagement software company focused on rewards, promotions, and CRM tools for retailers and restaurants, for an undisclosed amount. The deal addresses a specific gap in Olo’s product offering, as 65% of the restaurants on its platform use loyalty solutions, with many customers asking for an integrated offering. Spendgo CEO Ivan Matkovic will join Olo to continue developing the loyalty offering, which is available immediately since Spendgo was already an integration partner.
Alphabet agreed to acquire Intersect, an energy infrastructure company focused on developing and operating clean energy assets across the United States, for $4.75B. The acquisition aims to help Google support its data center buildout and help serve its commitment to “unlock abundant, reliable, affordable energy supply that enables the buildout of data center infrastructure without passing on costs to grid customers.” Google already had a minority stake in Intersect from a previous funding round that was announced last December.
ServiceNow, an enterprise workflow and automation software company, acquired Armis, a cybersecurity company focused on identifying and monitoring connected devices across enterprise networks, for $7.75B in cash, paying a significant premium over the $6.1B valuation the firm secured in a funding round last month. Armis co-founder and CEO Yevgeny Dibrov told TechCrunch just last month that the company aims to go public in late 2026 or 2027 and that an IPO is his “personal dream,” but ultimately opted for the M&A exit. Earlier this year, ServiceNow acquired AI agent platform Moveworks for $2.85B and agreed to acquire identity security firm Veza for $1B.
Ovanti, an Australian BNPL firm that targets non-prime and underbanked customers, raised $3M through a placement of 1.2B new shares priced at a 15% discount to its recent five-day trading average. The funds will be used to support its BNPL expansion into the U.S., cover ongoing litigation costs, and provide general working capital.
Samsung has ruled out an IPO of its India business, saying it plans to fund growth internally rather than tapping public markets. Instead, the company says it plans to focus on expanding AI features across its product lineup and scaling its consumer finance programs to drive sales in the country. More than 40% of its smartphones in India are already sold through its interest-free EMI program, which is now being extended to home appliances like TVs and washing machines. The company also plans to deepen its manufacturing presence in India, where it operates its largest smartphone factory globally and is seeking incentives to produce components locally.
YSE Beauty, a clinically tested skincare brand founded by actress Molly Sims, raised $15M in a Series A round led by Silas Capital. The funds will be used to accelerate its expansion at Sephora, invest in new product development, and further scale its D2C business. The company said it delivered 120% revenue growth in 2025 and expects to exceed 80% growth in 2026, reaching $30M in annual revenue, while more than doubling its Sephora business.
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Paul E. Drecksler
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PS: I tried to be more productive in 2025, so I started making to-do lists. Now I have a very detailed record of everything I didn’t do this year.