Russia’s RT, banned by major platforms in March 2022, has found an audience on Thiel-backed Rumble, often pushing Russian propaganda about the Ukraine invasion (Danny Hakim/New York Times)

Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg:
Thiel-backed conservative video platform Rumble is up 37% after going public via SPAC merger at a $2.1B valuation, raising $400M  —  Rumble Inc., the conservative video network backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, became a publicly traded company Monday through a deal with a blank-check firm …

Kaitlyn Tiffany / The Atlantic:
A look at video site Rumble, which has been on an upward trajectory since 2020, when right-wing star Dan Bongino moved from YouTube and took an equity stake  —  The most serious of the “alt-tech” social-media platforms appealing to right-wing “anti-censorship” voices often slides under the radar.

Bloomberg:
A profile of Figma founder Dylan Field, who will become the wealthiest person from the Thiel Fellowship by far, as PitchBook estimates his stake is worth $2B+  —  Dylan Field dropped out of an Ivy League school in 2012 to take a grant from the billionaire Peter Thiel and start a software company called Figma.

Josh Taylor / The Guardian:
Medibank’s hackers post what appears to be the remaining data of 9.7M customers on the dark web, claiming “case closed”, as Medibank continues its investigation  —  Medibank confirms it may be the full trove of hundreds of thousands of customers’ private records that were stolen from the health insurer

Ashlee Vance / Bloomberg:
Musk says Neuralink expects human trials to begin in about six months pending FDA approval, and unveils work on implants to treat paralysis and improve vision  —  Elon Musk’s Neuralink Corp. aims to start putting its coin-sized computing brain implant into human patients within six months …

Steven Levy / Wired:
Q&A with AOL founder Steve Case on his prediction that tech companies will flourish in the US heartland, the current investment slowdown, J.D. Vance, and more  —  Steve Case, founder of AOL, predicts the dominance of tech companies on the coasts will give way to a flourishing of startups from smaller cities.