Bobby Allyn

After Amazon took Parler down over violent messages on the site, no tech services firm would help it come back online. Then an obscure Los Angeles-based company offered to help.

The latest Internet hype is about a thing that doesn't really exist. Some collectors are spending millions of dollars on these digital items called non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.

The market for a "non-fungible token" is the talk of Silicon Valley. Collectors spent from $3 to millions for what amounts to digital art: a clip of Lebron dunking; a cat meme; and cartoon CytoPunks.

Former Parler CEO John Matze was stripped of all of his shares in the alternative social media company after a dispute with co-founder Rebekah Mercer. The company was nearing a $1 billion valuation.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Apple's Tim Cook are fighting over iPhone privacy rules. At stake is the future of how iPhone user data is used by data brokers and advertisers.

The proposed settlement applies to 89 million TikTok users in the U.S. whose personal data was allegedly tracked and sold to advertisers in violation of state and federal law.

The announcement came just as Google reached a deal with Australian publishers and as the president of Microsoft urged U.S. regulators to copy Australia's proposal.

The conservative social network is relaunching under new leadership and on new technology, a month after being de-platformed. It says it will not rely on Big Tech for its operations.

The invite-only app lets you eavesdrop on chats between celebrities, journalists and tech savants. Oprah, Elon Musk and White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain have all joined.

TikTok will still undergo a national security review by federal officials, but any outright ban, or pressure to sell to an American company, will not be a priority of the Biden White House.

CEOs, influencers, even the White House Chief of Staff are turning to this audio-only social media app to chat with a select few. But questions over the rules of engagement have stirred controversy.

Rob Monster, the chief executive of Epik, says his company's deals with websites Parler, Gab, BitChute and others is an act of free speech advocacy. Others say Epik is supporting hate speech.

NPR's Bobby Allyn speaks with Rob Monster, who sees his domain-registrar company Epik as a counter to Big Tech. He welcomes views banned on most other parts of the internet.

John Matze was ousted as the social media company struggles to find a way back online, with Big Tech companies cracking down on the site after the riot at the Capitol.

We meet two followers of the Reddit thread WallStreetbets, who helped push stock of struggling retailer GameStop to new heights.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein sided with Amazon, which argued that Parler would not remove posts from its site that threatened public safety in the wake of the Capitol riot.

The social media site Parler went dark after Amazon's web-hosting services pulled the plug. This highlighted the often invisible Internet infrastructure that makes using the Internet possible.

As federal investigators begin to launch criminal cases against some of the perpetrators of the violence, a growing chorus of advocates and lawmakers say tech companies bear some responsibility, too.

Major social media platforms have banned President Trump, citing a risk of violence. Meanwhile, tech giants say some alternative sites aren't doing enough to stop violent speech.

Twitter has permanently blocked the @realDonaldTrump account after President Trump posted messages that violated the company's rules.