TOGETHER WITH

It’s Friday and Batman fans can breathe easy: according to DC Studios president Jim Lee, the company has no interest in AI art or storytelling—”not now, not ever.”

Today’s News

PLATFORM HEADLINES

YouTube is giving some banned channels a “second chance”

The policy: YouTube has officially launched a “second chance” program that will grant reprieves to some creators whose channels were previously terminated.

Over “the next several weeks,” eligible creators will gain the option to request a new channel in the YouTube Studio hub when they log in with their original banned channel. To be clear, this is not a reinstatement of the previously terminated channel, but a “fresh start on YouTube” with a completely new channel.

There are a few parameters worth noting. Channels inactive for less than a year and/or banned for copyright infringement or violations of YouTube’s Creator Responsibility policy will not be eligible for those second chances. (Although creators who have been hit with bans in the past 12 months are still able to appeal those decisions.)

The context: The initial reveal of YouTube’s ban reversal system—which occurred two weeks before yesterday’s official announcement—raised some questions about the platform’s motivations.

It’s not hard to see why; after initially pledging to crack down on conspiracy theories in 2020, YouTube’s enforcement of its rules sputtered. The ban on “the big lie” went bye-bye in 2023, and creators have since monetized videos that dispute electoral outcomes. Now, some skeptics have suggested that YouTube’s “second chance” program is another example of Big Tech’s willingness to accede to the Trump administration’s demands.

To address those criticisms, YouTube’s latest blog post notes that its policies “are designed to evolve over time” and that “several factors” will be considered “when evaluating requests for new channels, like whether the creator committed particularly severe or persistent violations of our Community Guidelines…or whether the creator’s on- or off-platform activity harmed or may continue to harm the YouTube community, like channels that endanger kids’ safety.”

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The definitive conference on all things Gen Z is just 12 days away

ZCON 2025 is almost here. From October 22-23, the definitive conference on all things Gen Z will take over the Preserve in Hollywood to connect the changemakers of tomorrow and the brands of today.

On this year’s ZCON agenda:

• In partnership with Cosmopolitan, ZCON host UTA Next Gen will present an evening dedicated to unveiling the cultural powerhouses nominated as 2025’s Gen Z movers and shakers.
  
  

• Gen Z speakers will lead panels, breakouts, and workshops on the attention economy, digital trends, culture, social commerce, entertainment, the future of work, the creator economy, and more.

ZCON is the first major conference with exclusively Gen Z speakers—and over the last few years, it’s become the nexus point for all things Gen Z.  

With past speakers like Laurie Hernandez, Avantika, Amelie Zilber, Aaron Rose Philip, and Tefi and a reach of 269.8M+ (ZCON NYC 2024), ZCON gives business leaders the insights they need to meaningfully show up for and reach Gen Z.

Want to attend? Hit the link below to request an invite:

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Netflix has announced that subscribers will soon be able to play party games like LEGO® Party!, Pictionary: Game Night, Boggle Party, Tetris Time Warp on their TV screens. (Netflix)
  
  

• Meta AI can now translate, dub, and lip-sync Facebook and Instagram Reels in English, Hindi, Spanish, and Portuguese. (TechRadar)
  
  

• A sequel to the massively viral film adaptation of Minecraft (aka A Minecraft Movie) will hit theaters in July 2027. (The Verge)
  
  

• The National Payments Corporation of India is partnering with OpenAI and Razorpay to allow consumers to pay directly through ChatGPT when shopping. (TechCrunch)

READY TO RACE

Amelia Dimoldenberg will be F1’s Passenger Princess

The partnership: Amelia Dimoldenberg is going from the chicken shop to the racetrack. The British creator—whose interview program Chicken Shop Date has made her a beloved figure on YouTube—is teaming up with F1 to launch a four-part series called Passenger Princess.

Despite its name, Passenger Princess will put Dimoldenberg behind the wheel as she pursues her dream of becoming a licensed driver. The creator will go from zero to 100 with help from F1 stars George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Ollie Bearman, and Carlos Sainz (and, of course, she’ll conduct a few cheeky interviews along the way).

The context: A deal with Dimoldenberg is a natural fit for F1, which has seen its popularity grow among Gen Z women—in large part thanks to creators. In a press release, the racing organization noted that 42% of its fans are female (up from 37% in 2018).

F1 isn’t the only racing entity gaining attention through social media. On platforms like YouTube and Twitch, viewer appetite for motorsports seems to be on the rise. French creator Squeezie, for instance, recently reached new heights by attracting 1.4 million viewers for the latest edition of his creator racing event GP Explorer. American streamer Ludwig, who participated in the race, described it as superior to all the creator events happening in the U.S.

With Passenger Princess, Dimoldenberg will have a chance to continue the motorsports category’s winning ways. Keep an eye on her YouTube channel to catch all installments of the four-part show as they arrive.

KEEPING IT REEL

Meta just announced a new algorithm for Facebook Reels

The updates: Meta is tweaking the Facebook Reels recommendation engine and adding a few new tools to help viewers find more relevant vertical videos.

According to a Facebook blog post, the new-and-improved algorithm “learns your interests quicker and shows you newer and more relevant reels.” At the same time, a “Not Interested” button will let the algorithm know when recs miss the mark and an updated Save feature will reinforce user preferences. In theory, those data points should increase the speed with which Facebook learns each user’s scrolling habits:

Other new features—including AI-powered search suggestions and bubbles that inform you when a friend has watched a Reel—will make Facebook look more like Meta’s other properties, especially Instagram. On the whole, however, these updates seem to be part of Meta’s ongoing mission to replicate the recs and features that catalyzed TikTok’s rise.

The update: Longtime Facebook users may chafe at that TikTok-ification, but Meta has always contended that its promotion of short-form video formats is a response to user behavior. The latest blog post, for example, notes that time spent watching videos on Facebook is up 20% year-over-year in the U.S. 

The updated engine could make that viewership experience more enjoyable by furthering Meta’s effort to promote more original content amid a sea of AI slop. Post-update, the Facebook Reels algorithm will recommend 50% more videos that have been published within the last 24 hours. That could go a long way towards keeping users’ feeds fresh—and if not, there’s always the “Not Interested” button.

WATCH THIS 🎙️

100 years before Game of Thrones…

Return to Westeros: HBO is back at it with another Game of Thrones spin-off. Six years after the disastrous end to its hit series, the streamer is fast-forwarding way past GOT’s first prequel (aka House of the Dragon) to give fans a look at the century before Bran ascended to the throne.

That period seems to be chock full of knights, swords, and chainmail—so if you’re craving some good old fashioned ren faire vibes, check out the trailer for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms here.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen.