Media Kit

Press, Broadcast, Podcast, and Creator Resources

This kit is designed to give every category of media professional everything needed to cover Squares 9 accurately and completely. Ready-made copy, approved quotes, broadcast preparation, podcast booking, founder assets, and supporting research are all in one place. Visual assets are in production and will be added before launch.

Ready-Made Company Summaries

Four versions of the Squares 9 company description, sized for different editorial contexts. Each is approved for direct use in articles, scripts, episode descriptions, video captions, and introductions. Attribution: Squares 9 Corporation.

50 Words

Squares 9 is a security-first private social media platform founded by John Halotek in August 2024. Built on closed-loop communication architecture, the platform gives members full control over who can reach them, with end-to-end encryption, no behavioral profiling, and no open discovery. Global launch: Summer, 2026.

100 Words

Squares 9 is a private social media platform built from the ground up with security as the primary architectural requirement. Founded in August 2024 by John Halotek, whose career spans more than three decades in government identification systems and security infrastructure, the company was built on a specific judgment: that legacy social media platforms were designed in a lower-threat era and cannot be retrofitted to address what AI-era digital threats now make possible. The platform operates on a closed-loop communication model with invitation-only access, end-to-end encryption, no behavioral profiling, no open discovery, and no data exploitation. Global launch is scheduled for Summer, 2026, from Peoria, Arizona.

250 Words

Squares 9 is a security-first private social media company founded in August 2024 by John Halotek, a security professional with more than three decades of experience in government identification systems, access control, and security infrastructure at international scale. The company is headquartered in Peoria, Arizona, and is preparing for a global platform launch on Summer, 2026.

The founding premise is architectural. Legacy social media platforms were built one to two decades ago in a threat environment that no longer exists. Designed for reach and engagement, they treated privacy as an afterthought and data exposure as a structural condition rather than a design failure. As artificial intelligence has scaled the capability of digital systems, those structural weaknesses have become active vulnerabilities. Synthetic identity exploitation, AI-assisted social engineering, behavioral profiling at scale, and deepfake impersonation are now documented capabilities running against infrastructure that was built before any of them existed.

Squares 9 was built to a different standard. The platform operates as a closed-loop communication system where all access is defined and deliberate. Members connect within invitation-only environments called Squares. All communication is protected through end-to-end encryption. Exposure reduction and trust boundary enforcement operate at the infrastructure level, continuously and by default. There is no public feed, no algorithmic content surfacing, no open discovery, and no behavioral profiling. Artificial intelligence is applied exclusively to system integrity and member protection. The platform includes a structured advertising model that operates without personal tracking or member data.

Squares 9 is the platform that the threat environment now requires.

500 Words

Squares 9 is a security-first private social media company building a closed-loop platform for the AI era. The company was founded in August 2024 by John Halotek, a security professional whose career spans more than three decades in government identification systems, access control, and security infrastructure at international scale. The company is headquartered in Peoria, Arizona, and its platform is scheduled to launch globally on Summer, 2026.

The company was founded on a specific diagnosis of a structural industry failure. Social media platforms built over the past two decades were engineered for engagement and maximum data flow in a threat environment that was fundamentally different from the one that exists today. Privacy, in those architectures, was never the primary design requirement. Data exposure was a byproduct of the model, and in many cases a feature. Those were rational choices for the era. The threat landscape has since changed completely.

Digital crime has escalated at a rate that consistently outpaces the defenses built for the previous threat level. The emergence of capable artificial intelligence has accelerated that trajectory. Synthetic identity exploitation, AI-assisted social engineering, behavioral profiling at scale, and deepfake impersonation are no longer theoretical risks. They are documented capabilities, increasingly available and affordable, operating against infrastructure that was designed before any of them existed. Legacy platforms cannot retroactively redesign their foundations. Their commercial models depend on the same data exposure that creates the vulnerability.

John Halotek tracked this convergence over years of operational security work before making the decision to build. His assessment was architectural: the social media industry had a structural gap that incremental updates and policy changes could not close. Closing it required building a platform from a different starting point, with protection as the primary design requirement rather than a secondary consideration.

The result is Squares 9. The platform operates as a closed-loop communication system where every structural element reflects a single governing principle: does this decision reduce member exposure, or increase it. All access is invitation-based and member-defined. Interaction takes place within private environments called Squares, which reflect real-world relationships. All communication, including messages, images, and shared content, is protected through end-to-end encryption. Exposure reduction and trust boundary enforcement operate at the infrastructure level, continuously and by default. There is no public feed, no open discovery, no algorithmic amplification, and no behavioral profiling. Artificial intelligence is applied exclusively to system integrity and member protection, with strict architectural boundaries keeping member data outside its scope.

The platform also includes a structured advertising model built to a defined standard. Advertising is presented on the basis of clear, interest-based placement, without personal tracking, behavioral profiling, or the use of member data. The commercial model is designed to sustain the platform without compromising the architecture that makes it trustworthy.

Squares 9, Corporation closed its seed funding round in September 2025. The company is preparing for a Series A following the Summer, 2026 platform launch.

The platform was built in Peoria, Arizona. It is the first social media company to enter the market with a security-first architecture designed specifically to address the AI-era threat landscape from the ground up.

Founder Assets, John Halotek

John Halotek is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Squares 9 Corporation. His career spans more than three decades in government identification systems, access control, and security infrastructure at international scale. He founded Squares 9 in August 2024 after identifying a structural gap in social media that the AI-era threat landscape made impossible to ignore.

Short Bio, 75 Words

John Halotek is the Founder and CEO of Squares 9 Corporation, a security-first private social media company launching globally on Summer, 2026. His career spans more than three decades in government identification systems and security infrastructure. He founded Squares 9 to apply that background to social media, building the closed-loop, privacy-first platform that the AI era requires.

Long Bio, 200 Words

John Halotek is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Squares 9 Corporation, a security-first private social media company headquartered in Peoria, Arizona. His career spans more than three decades working within government identification systems, access control, and security infrastructure at international scale, environments where disciplined thinking around threat vectors, exposure, and system vulnerability is the baseline requirement.

By the mid-2010s, Halotek had begun tracking the convergence of artificial intelligence with the data landscape that social media had created. What he observed was analytically clear: legacy platforms had been built in a lower-threat era, their architectures were optimized for engagement rather than protection, and the emergence of capable AI systems had converted their structural weaknesses into active attack surfaces. In August 2024, he made the decision to build.

Squares 9 is the result: a closed-loop social media platform built with security as the primary architectural requirement, designed to protect members from AI-era digital threats that open platforms were never built to address. Halotek speaks regularly on AI responsibility, digital rights, platform accountability, and the structural requirements of genuinely private social media.

Founder Headshots

All headshots are approved for editorial, broadcast, podcast, and press use. Please do not crop, filter, or alter the images. Attribution: Squares 9 Corporation.

Full Founder Profile and Media Resources

Approved Quote Library

All quotes below are approved for direct use in reporting, features, scripts, episode descriptions, and editorial coverage. Attribution: John Halotek, Founder and CEO, Squares 9 Corporation.

On the Mission

"I did not set out to build another social platform. I set out to build a system that actually protects the people using it. Those turned out to be very different projects."
"We are building the part of social media that should have existed from the beginning. Not as a reaction to what went wrong. As a response to what was always possible and simply never chosen."
"We built this because we believed it was the right thing to do. The response from the technology community has confirmed that read. People who understand exactly what these platforms do with personal data have reached out to say thank you. That is not a marketing outcome. That is what happens when you build something the world actually needed."

On Privacy and Data Rights

"We protect financial data with precision and legal consequence. We have accepted, as an industry, that personal data is something different, something tradeable, something collectible, something that belongs to whoever can capture it. Squares 9 was built on the rejection of that premise."
"No tracking. No behavioral profiling. No cookies. No data sold to anyone, ever. These are not policy commitments that can be reversed with a terms of service update. They are structural properties of the platform. We built them in before we built anything else."
"Social media has transformed human connection, and the next twenty-five years call for a more mature model. One that delivers powerful interaction with members in full control of their own data, and engineered so that trust and meaningful connection no longer require trading away privacy."

On Artificial Intelligence and Security

"AI holds extraordinary capability, and deploying it responsibly requires structural guardrails built into the architecture from the start. Squares 9 was designed specifically for the era we are in, with firm boundaries on how AI is used and a commitment that member data stays entirely outside its scope."
"The social media industry was built for a threat environment that no longer exists. Squares 9 was built for the one that does."
"Squares 9 was engineered to give members full control over their exposure from the very first design decision. That principle shapes every feature, every policy, and every integration on the platform."

On Platform Design

"Trust is not restored through messaging. It is built through design."
"The gap in existing social media cannot be closed with a settings menu or a policy update. It is in the foundation. Closing it required building from a completely different starting point, and that is exactly what we did."
"Legacy platforms cannot retroactively close their architectures. Their commercial models depend on the exposure that creates the vulnerability. That is a description of where the incentives lead, and why building something genuinely different required starting from a completely different premise."

On People

"I think about a mother who wants to send pictures of her children to her own mother. She should be able to do that with complete confidence that no platform is watching, collecting, or building a profile from those moments. That is exactly the kind of trust Squares 9 was designed to earn."
"Social media should fit a life, not consume one. Squares 9 was built without algorithmic feeds, follower counts, and performance pressure. What you see is what the people you invited chose to share with you. Intentional, genuine, and entirely yours."
"Twenty percent of our advertising inventory goes to verified environmental, humanitarian, and human rights organizations. Permanently, built into the revenue model from day one. If we are going to build a platform with real reach, the question of what we use that reach for is not optional. The answer was clear to us from the beginning."

Broadcast Interview Preparation

The following information is provided for television producers, radio producers, and broadcast journalists preparing segments featuring John Halotek or Squares 9 Corporation.

Pronunciation Guide

John Halotek: HAL-oh-tek (HAL rhymes with pal)
Squares 9: Squares Nine
Squares 9 Corporation: Squares Nine Corporation

Standard Company Description for Broadcast Use

Squares 9 is a private social media company founded by security professional John Halotek. The platform is built on a closed-loop architecture that gives members full control over who can reach them, with no behavioral tracking, no data profiling, and no open public feed. It launches globally Summer, 2026.

Standard Founder Description for Broadcast Use

John Halotek is the founder and CEO of Squares 9 Corporation. He brings more than three decades of experience in government-scale security and identity systems to the social media industry.

Approved Interview Topics

The convergence of artificial intelligence and social media, and what it means for individual privacy and safety
Why security-first platform design produces fundamentally different outcomes than engagement-first design
The structural gap in existing social media and why it cannot be closed through policy updates or feature additions
How closed-loop architecture reduces fraud, impersonation, harassment, and AI-driven exploitation
Data ownership, digital rights, and the design requirements of a genuinely private platform
Responsible AI governance and what strong guardrails look like when built into the architecture
Platform accountability and the role of regulatory pressure in reshaping social media
The AI-era threat landscape: synthetic identity exploitation, deepfake impersonation, and behavioral profiling at scale

Topics Halotek Does Not Address in Media

Consistent with standard security professional practice, Halotek does not discuss the specific details of projects, clients, or assignments from his government-scale security career. The nature of that work requires discretion that is maintained in all public settings.

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Podcast and Creator Booking

John Halotek is available for podcast appearances, long-form creator interviews, documentary background conversations, and recorded content on the topics listed below. He brings a specific, experienced perspective on AI, security, social media, and digital rights that is grounded in decades of operational work rather than commentary.

Suggested Episode Angles

The AI era and social trust: why the threat to personal data is structural, not solvable with settings
Why public social systems fail: the architectural argument for closed-loop communication
The man who spent thirty years in government security and then built a social media company
What ethical social media actually looks like as an engineering problem, not a marketing position
AI-assisted fraud, deepfake impersonation, and what social media was never designed to defend against
The future of private social media: who owns your data, your connections, and your attention
Exposure reduction architecture: a new way to think about digital safety
Building a social media company with security as the foundation, not the afterthought

Format Availability

Long-form audio podcast: available
Video podcast and recorded interview: available
Documentary background and on-camera interview: available by arrangement
Written Q&A for newsletters and publications: available
Panel appearances and conference presentations: available by arrangement

Guest Introduction Copy

John Halotek is the founder and CEO of Squares 9 Corporation, a private social media company built on closed-loop security architecture. He spent more than three decades working within government identification systems and security infrastructure before founding Squares 9 in 2024 to apply that experience to the most exposed and least protected digital environment that exists: social media. Squares 9 launches globally on Summer, 2026.

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Visual and Brand Assets

Approved logos, platform screenshots, and graphics for publication and broadcast use. Additional visual assets are in production and will be available before the 2026 launch date.

Logo Pack

All logo files are approved for editorial, broadcast, podcast, and press use. Please do not crop, recolor, distort, or alter the files. Attribution: Squares 9 Corporation.

Additional logo formats, including black, white, and vector versions, are in production and will be added to this kit before launch.

Additional Visual Assets

Platform screenshots and interface mockups, mobile and desktop. Coming Soon
Comparison graphic: Traditional Social Media vs. Squares 9 architecture. Coming Soon
Closed-loop architecture diagram for editorial and explainer use. Coming Soon
B-roll and motion graphics package for video producers. Coming Soon

To request assets in advance of the public release, contact the Communications Department directly.

Research and Background Materials

The following documents provide deeper context on the platform design, member rights, privacy standards, and governing philosophy behind Squares 9. All are written in citation-ready language suitable for journalists, analysts, and researchers.

Reach Us Directly

For interviews, high resolution assets, background briefings, or custom research support, contact the Squares 9 Communications Department. We respond to all qualified media inquiries within 24 hours.

Press Contact: Corporate Communications Department

Contact Communications Department