All your reaction GIFs now belong to Facebook, as it buys Giphy for $400M

Enlarge / Ironically, their logo is static, not animated. (credit: Giphy)

Seven years ago, Facebook claimed not to support the 21st century's new favorite communication tool, the animated GIF. Oh, how times have changed: Today, Facebook's newest acquisition is one of the Internet's most popular GIF hosting sites.

Facebook is making Giphy part of the Instagram team, the company said today. Axios, which was first to report the transaction, said the deal was valued at about $400 million.

According to Facebook, about half of Giphy's current traffic already comes from Facebook products, especially Instagram. That's perhaps unsurprising, given that Facebook's big three apps-WhatsApp, Instagram, and flagship Facebook-have literally billions of daily users among them.

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