NEW: In August, I pitched a story about a sex trafficking lawsuit facing @Pornhub's parent company MindGeek, and payment giant @Visa -- and what it means for sex workers who rely on Internet platforms and credit card companies to process the transactions that pay their bills.

Scoop: Kohl's has stopped accepting Amazon returns at select retail locations as part of a temporary test, the company confirmed to Modern Retail. Check out the full story here:

🛑New from me: Some third-party sellers on Amazon are worried that boycotts against the company will hurt them more than the e-commerce giant.

Always annoying to see good pubs like @theinformation publish stories we broke a week ago without any attribution https://t.co/G6oZetzfs4

👟🛍️#scoop: Two brands that separately spoke to #Temu reps at a shoe expo last week in NYC were told that Temu is trying to broaden its appeal by adding more higher-priced items to its product assortment. Read the full story at @modernretail here:

"As for TikTok’s AI-powered influencers, @OpenStore's  Traverzo is waiting to see how other brands leverage the technology first, including competitors, and how consumers react to it before testing it out. When you start to bring in AI, and you have someone reading from a

“If those same buyers from Etsy don’t find us on our site or elsewhere, it’s going to be catastrophic. How do we afford payroll when, in 30 days, we lose most of our revenue?” Preston Stevenson of @@Fantasticocks1 via @allison_n_smith @modernretail

Career news: After a few great years at Bloomberg, I’m starting at @modernretail today, where I’ll be covering how e-commerce companies from Amazon to Shopify are shaping the retail industry. Excited to be back on the retail beat! Say hi, send tips: allison@modernretail.co

Taiwanese life insurers' assets have more than doubled since 2009 to $1.1 trillion — roughly the GDP of the Netherlands. But unrealized investment losses, falling income and increased payouts are cutting short their dreams https://t.co/e69ghQ80EZ @ChienHuaWan1 & @allison_n_smith

The animal sedative xylazine is playing a deadly role in the opioid crisis. The tranquilizer has been implicated in some 3,000 deaths in 2021 alone, and that's likely an undercount. Yet, the DEA says it is cheap and readily available. https://t.co/KwuijvvjwB via @business @BW

people smart on financials credits please slide into Allison's DMs!

🧵 Back on the Swiftonomics beat for @business... Last November, I was one of the some 14M people who failed to score tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Six months later, I'm one of many Swifties who are still learning a basic supply-and-demand lesson https://t.co/74rqlf30aH

Some personal news: I'm now a credit reporter for @business, covering banks and ratings firms, among other things. It's an exciting time to be on credit in the wake of some of the largest bank failures. Say hi, send tips: asmith1281@bloomberg.net

🚨BREAKING🚨 @FaZeClan has laid off 40% of its remaining staff, only months after a 20% layoff in February. If FaZe is shaping up to be the Titanic of esports, this might be the point where it breaks in half on the way down. Read all about it on @Digiday: https://t.co/I5l0tYsb3R

That shopping cart you push around at Walmart? An AI probably haggled over its price. @bcase4bbg and I took a look at how the retail giant is using a chatbot to negotiate with some suppliers. w/ @GrahamStarr https://t.co/K4Cx5y7hWc

California’s Inland Empire emerged as a poster child of the e-commerce boom of the pandemic, with the warehousing industry fueling a hot labor market and a fast economic recovery Now, the region is showing signs of trouble as recession fears brew 🧵 https://t.co/Zh2THrhm52

(3) Books: "Camming: Money Power, and Pleasure in the Sex Work Industry" by @drjonessoc; "Porn Work" by @DrHeatherBerg; and "Revolting Prostitutes" by Molly Smith & Juno Mac

(2) I'd also recommend Financial Time's "Hot Money" podcast, which does a deep dive into the relationship between credit card companies and online porn

REFERENCE SHELF: (1) If you're interested in learning more about how pressure from anti-porn groups has pushed financial institutions away from adult content, VICE's @samleecole has a good explainer here

Thanks for @DavidRovella for all your thoughtful editing here and helping me turn a nearly 4,000-word draft into an actually readable story on a hugely important topic