Facebook Acquires GIPHY for $400 Million
GIPHY is a platform or a search engine for GIFs, which has now been acquired by Facebook. However, the internet feels that it will give more power and another avenue to the social media giant to access information about users.
If you don’t know what GIPHY is, then you’re either living under a rock or don’t use social media as much. GIPHY is a platform or a search engine for GIFs. The animated graphics that you send on WhatsApp or anywhere else are usually by GIPHY. It’s one of the largest websites for animated graphics in the world.
Facebook made an announcement on Friday saying ‘Facebook welcomes GIPHY as a part of Instagram team‘. Facebook also mentioned that it will be incorporated into Instagram so the user experience is enhanced even more.
In a blog post, it also mentioned that:
“A lot of people in our community already know and love GIPHY. In fact, 50% of GIPHY’s traffic comes from the Facebook family of apps, half of that from Instagram alone,”
People will be able to access and use GIPHY just like before and so will developers. There won’t be any major change except for the fact that it’s now owned by one of the largest social media platform family. Facebook also mentioned:
“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.”
However, according to The Verge and Washington Post, it’s another tactic used by Facebook to collect more information and data. We all know by now that Facebook records every little move of ours to create more personalized advertisements on its websites. It even tracks your moves on other third party apps and websites, which has previously caused a lot of outrage. Mark Zuckerberg has already been under hot waters due to allegations of privacy breach.
People believe that by acquiring GIPHY, it will open up more avenues for Facebook to collect information about its users. The “off-Facebook activity” was brought into notice last year, which stirred up some questions and thoughts regarding how much access Facebook had in everyone’s phone and eventually lives. Information such as GIFs and other searches can allegedly be collected but Facebook has declined to comment on this matter. GIPHY’s chief technology officer Randy Shepherd said:
“There is no way for Giphy to personally identify any users via search behavior on other platforms.”
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