There are many GIFs available for download on the internet, but one of the largest repositories would be GIPHY, and now it looks like Facebook owns them. In an announcement on its blog, Facebook has revealed that they have acquired GIPHY, but stopped short of disclosing how much they paid for the company.According to the company, “GIPHY, a leader in visual expression and creation, is joining the Facebook company today as part of the Instagram team. GIPHY makes everyday conversations more entertaining, and so we plan to further integrate their GIF library into Instagram and our other apps so that people can find just the right way to express themselves.”
If you’ve ever used a Facebook service like WhatsApp or Messenger to send GIFs, then chances are you’ve already used GIPHY. Facebook notes that GIPHY will continue operating as is for now, but the company is expected to further integrate the GIF platform into its other services like Instagram to better allow users to express themselves.
The company also notes that other apps and services that use GIPHY’s API will continue to be able to access them, so for now, it looks like nothing will be changing. Users who upload images to the platform will also be able to continue doing so.