Facebook has just bought the popular GIF GIPHY hosting platform. In a blog post, GIPHY announced that it will join the Instagram team.
Although both companies have confirmed the deal, they have not disclosed the amount. A post by Axios he says that Facebook to acquire GIPHY paid 400 millions dollars.
GIPHY's API is quite popular on social networks. Facebook already uses it in many of the productτα του, όπως το Messenger και το WhatsApp to search for GIFs. And other social networks like Twitter, Reddit, and Slack also use GIPHY's APIs for their GIF-related features.
In a statement, Vishal Shah, Product VP on Instagram, stated that GIPHY will continue to operate its library and developers will have the same access to GIPHY APIs as before:
GIPHY will continue to operate its library (including its global content collection) and we look forward to further investing in its technology and its relationship with content and its partners through APIs. Users will still be able to upload GIFs. Developers and API users will continue to have the same access to GIPHY APIs. So the GIPHY creative community will still be able to create great content.
Despite Facebook's assertion, there are already many questions about privacy and how Facebook will handle user data.
Facebook history shows us that the company wants to share our data in all its products. We already know this and we have seen it in practice with consolidation of WhatsApp and Instagram and Facebook. So, although the biggest social network promises to keep things as they are for now, we should expect things to change in a few years.