Facebook acquires GIF platform ‘GIPHY’, to integrate it with Instagram

GIPHY will continue to operate its library, including its global content collection, and Facebook has said it will be investing further in its technology.
Alex Chung
Alex Chung
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Social media giant Facebook on Friday acquired the GIF-sharing service GIPHY, which will now be a part of the Instagram team.

According to Axios, Facebook paid $400 million for the acquisition.

"By bringing Instagram and GIPHY together, we can make it easier for people to find the perfect GIFs and stickers in Stories and Direct. Both our services are big supporters of the creator and artist community, and that will continue," Vishal Shah, VP of Product Facebook, said in a statement.

Facebook used GIPHY's API for years, not just in Instagram, but in the main Facebook app, Messenger and WhatsApp.

GIPHY will continue to operate its library (including its global content collection), and the company looking forward to investing further in its technology and relationships with content and API partners.

"People will still be able to upload GIFs; developers and API partners will continue to have the same access to GIPHY's APIs; and GIPHY's creative community will still be able to create great content," Shah added.

Giphy too, said in a statement, “API/SDK partners and developers: GIPHY’s GIFs, Stickers, Emojis, etc. aren’t going anywhere. We will continue to make GIPHY openly available to the wider ecosystem.”

GIPHY, founded in 2013 by Alex Chung and Jace Cooke, is a searchable library of animated GIFS that have integrated with a variety of apps, such as Slack as well as Twitter.

Facebook first attempted to acquire GIPHY in 2015, two years after it was founded.

Vishal said in the statement that 50% of GIPHY’s traffic comes from the Facebook family of apps, half of that from Instagram alone.

“Together, we can make it easier for anyone to create and share their work with the world… We’ve used GIPHY’s API for years, not just in Instagram, but in the Facebook app, Messenger and WhatsApp,” he added.

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