Now that Facebook owns Giphy, the internet is awash with takes about what this means for the ubiquitous gif/sticker-searching platform. Twitter is no exception, as its users began to chime in with their thoughts on the acquisition, and the horrors it might unleash upon us all, within minutes of the story breaking.
Most of the people who've helped push Giphy to over a trillion shared gifs and images have no idea what the website looks like because of its API. These days, it's integrated into several messaging platforms as the go-to option for quickly finding and posting gifs. As is the case with its biggest competitor, Tenor, Giphy data exists on people's phones and smart devices likely without them knowing. As a result, hearing that the service is now a part of Facebook is a major turn off for many people, given the potential privacy risks the acquisition and integration with Instagram could introduce.
Unsurprisingly, Twitter is not happy about this. There was already a predictable level of distrust everyone expected to cloud this news, but it didn't help at all that, within minutes of the story, prominent tech writer Stephen Hackett posted a tweet suggesting Giphy was already preventing users from sending gifs featuring Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Since then, dozens of people have confirmed that isn't the case, including Giphy's editorial lead, but the damage had already been done. As far as Twitter is concerned, Facebook is already ruining things and it's time to delete any traces of Giphy from our devices, consider jumping to Tenor (which would mean trusting Google), or abandon gifs, the internet's favorite past time.
Tech Companies Respond to Twitter's Giphy Concerns
One of the first places people reached out to upon hearing Facebook owns Giphy was the Signal Twitter account. Signal's messaging service is held in high regard for its focus on encryption and user privacy but it also has Giphy integration. The account has since explained that it has always used Giphy through a proxy so no one's information is exposed to the service, and that will continue to be the case. This hopefully puts Signal users at ease as they're already panicking. One supporter submitted a detailed, exhaustive bug report to Signal's GitHub repository, describing the bug as "GIPHY has just been bought by Facebook".
Similarly, fans of Apple's iMessage service, who don't trust Facebook, reached out to the Apple support Twitter account asking how to uninstall Giphy from the app. Apple obliged them and explained the process while prefacing the directions with a coy "Good question."
Ultimately, a person's reaction to the Giphy acquisition probably depends on how they feel about Facebook. Giphy is fortunately not associated with any major violations of user privacy, and most people seemed fine with how it handled user data until now. So, people who trust Facebook can likely continue to enjoy Giphy and look forward to its deeper integration on that platform and Instagram. People wary of Zuckerberg and Facebook... might want to stick to emoji.
More: Why Facebook Just Spent Many Millions On Giphy (Hint: Instagram)
Source: Twitter