Axios

Parler has become the social network refuge for Trump supporters who believe that legacy platforms like Facebook and Twitter have become too restrictive, helping it shoot to the very top of the app store charts.

Axios Re:Cap digs into Parler's popularity, process and controversies with Parler chief policy officer Amy Peikoff.

The Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit against Visa is important, not just for the outcome of a $5 billion fintech acquisition, but for the whole future of the industry.

Why it matters: While there are a lot of financial startups, very few of them are genuinely disruptive. In fact, many of them implicitly rely upon the Visa and Mastercard duopoly. The DOJ wants to ensure that there's still a chance that duopoly could face real competition.

The Swiss intelligence service has known since at least 1993 that Switzerland-based encryption device maker Crypto AG was actually a front for the CIA and its German counterpart, according to a new report released by the Swiss Parliament, but Swiss leaders were in the dark until last year.

Why it matters: Switzerland’s intra-governmental information gap is unlikely to be welcome news in Europe, which already looks warily upon the U.S.’ expansive surveillance practices. Still, Crypto AG provided information of incalculable value to U.S. policymakers over many decades.

As the dust settles on the 2020 presidential election, it's becoming clear that the process proved sturdy, with no known attacks on voting infrastructure and no 2016-style vast foreign meddling campaigns to disrupt American democracy.

Yes, but: The ongoing disinformation campaign from President Trump and his allies, as they refuse to accept his loss, illustrates that the country does not need outside intrusions to undermine the integrity of our elections.

The Trump administration's existential threat to TikTok is again going down to the wire, as today is the deadline for when its Chinese parent company ByteDance must unwind a 2018 merger that helped create the app.

The big picture: There's no precedent for what might be coming after the stroke of midnight, and so far Treasury is turtling.

Google announced Wednesday it will stop offering unlimited free photo storage on June 1, 2021. However, photos uploaded before then won't count against the new 15 GB free limit.

Why it matters: Thanks to its free storage, as well as excellent search and ease of use, Google Photos has been the ideal backup option for many users — and drove many paid competitors out of the space.

Mmhmm, the video startup from former Evernote CEO Phil Libin, is ready for prime time. The service is launching publicly today after a private beta involving tens of thousands of testers.

Why it matters: The difficult-to-pronounce startup is one of a number of efforts designed to make video conferencing more interesting than it is today.

Solv Health, a startup that sells health care providers digital tools to manage patients, has raised $27 million in new funding led by Acrew Capital, with MultiCare Health System, Light Street Capital, Benchmark and Greylock Partners also participating.

Why it matters: Overnight, the ongoing pandemic significantly altered how people interact with the health care system, creating a need to reduce unnecessary in-person contact that has sped up the digital transformation of medical practice.

The Trump administration's fight to question the election's outcome is providing a massive field test of the effectiveness of online echo chambers and filter bubbles.

The state of play: So far, the evidence from the Trump universe shows partisan delusion winning out over objective reality.