Axios

Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger recently launched Rt.live, which tracks the rate of the coronavirus infection spread in each state. Dan digs in with Systrom on what Rt.live can tell us, plus his thoughts on how Silicon Valley has responded to the crisis.

Magic Leap said Wednesday that it is significantly reducing its staff amid a further shift toward the enterprise side of virtual and augmented reality.

Between the lines: Magic Leap has gotten tons of money and buzz, but has yet to find a significant business for its VR/AR technology.

The rapid trajectory of videoconferencing service Zoom has entered a new phase: What started as a social lifeline during the pandemic, and then became an object of privacy and security concerns, has now become a grind.

Why it matters: Zoom is wearing a lot of us down, and as our era of enforced online work and socializing drags on, we're all going to have to learn how to better conserve our physical and psychological energy.

Robert Blair, a senior White House official who played a key role under former chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, is moving to the Commerce Department to serve as director of policy, two sources familiar with his plans tell Axios and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed.

What we're hearing: Blair is expected to focus on 5G, rebalancing the relationship with China and reopening the economy after the coronavirus lockdowns, one of the sources said.

Facebook is spending $5.7 billion to become the largest minority shareholder of Indian telecom operator Reliance Jio, the company announced on Tuesday.

Why it matters, via Axios' Ina Fried: Facebook has long sought a way to get more people in India using its services. In the past it has looked to subsidize mobile traffic to its services, a move that drew the ire of net neutrality advocates and other critics.

Snap's stock price jumped 20% in after-hours trading after the company posted strong Q1 results, beating analyst estimates with $462 million in revenue and just missing earnings estimates with a $0.08 loss per share.

Why it matters: Like other ad-supported businesses, Snap is vulnerable to a pullback in advertising spend, though the company is also in a position to see more activity as users spend more time at home during the coronavirus pandemic and need entertainment and online socializing.

Netflix's stock was up more than 10% in after-hours trading on Tuesday after the entertainment giant blew past investor expectations for subscriber growth in the first quarter.

Why it matters: Nielsen and other measurement vendors reported that Netflix was experiencing a surge in viewership during the coronavirus pandemic. Netflix blew past the high end of Wall Street's new subscriber estimates, nearly doubling them.

Google won't charge businesses to sell goods in its Shopping section, beginning later this month in the U.S. and globally over the course of the year, the company said on Tuesday.

Why it matters: Google is trying to eliminate fees for its services to ease the burden on small businesses and publishers, two categories that rely heavily on its services and are hurting badly amid the coronavirus' effect on the economy.

Aiming to close what it calls a "data divide," Microsoft on Tuesday announced a plan to make more data widely available so the benefits of artificial intelligence aren't confined to a few large companies.

Why it matters: Machine learning has the potential to make governments and countries far more efficient but often requires an enormous amount of data, in addition to the necessary computing power.

Facebook's decision to take down event listings for certain protests against state and local pandemic measures is putting conflicts between public health and free speech into stark relief.

Driving the news: CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Monday on ABC that Facebook would treat some efforts to organize protests against social distancing rules as "harmful misinformation" and take them down.

Facebook said on Monday that it has deleted events for anti-quarantine protests in Nebraska, New Jersey and California that defied government guidelines, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: Facebook has faced calls over the years to better police content shared on its site — which often features misinformation. The platform says it will align with public health officials in supporting stay-at-home orders, which experts argue are essential to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.