Like this sequence where Steve Buscemi tries to pass himself off as a teenager in the series 30Rock, the gifs are obsolete. This is in any case the argument brandished by the bosses of Giphy, this platform precisely specialized in the search for gifs which waters several social networks including Twitter and Facebook. The latter’s parent company, Meta, got its hands on Giphy in May 2020 for $400 million.
But at the end of 2021, following a long investigation, the Consumer and Markets Authority (CMA), the competition authority across the Channel, had vetoed it, forcing Meta to resell its new platform to avoid a duopoly on the market. gif market with Google. A decision obviously contested by Mark Zuckerberg’s company, which appealed and obtained the possibility of defending its case.
In a document sent to the CMA, representatives of Giphy thus argued in favor of the takeover. According to them, no company other than Meta would today want to acquire a tool dedicated to gifs since these would be “cringe” (cheesy, in good French) and even “for boomers“.