Facebook's Giphy Acquisition Sounds Antitrust Alarms In Congress (theverge.com) 20
A bipartisan group of senators are sounding the antitrust enforcement alarm Friday over Facebook's newly announced acquisition of Giphy, a GIF-making and sharing website. The Verge reports: On Friday, Facebook announced that it would acquire Giphy for the reported price of $400 million. Giphy is one of the largest GIF sites on the internet and social media and messaging services like Twitter, Tinder, Slack and iMessage already have Giphy integrated into their apps. In a Friday blog post, Facebook said that half of Giphy's traffic comes from Facebook apps and that the gif website would be rolled into Instagram, a Facebook-owned product. In that same post, Facebook suggested that Giphy's core function as a GIF-sharing app across social media would not change and that developers would "continue to have the same access" to its services.
Still, that pledge hasn't quieted the growing chorus of congresspeople concerned over potential anti-competitive behavior from Facebook. In statements Friday, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Democrats Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) were skeptical of the deal. "Facebook keeps looking for even more ways to take our data," Hawley said in a statement to The Verge. "Just like Google purchased DoubleClick because of its widespread presence on the internet and ability to collect data, Facebook wants Giphy so it can collect even more data on us. Facebook shouldn't be acquiring any companies while it is under antitrust investigation for its past purchases." Democrats are planning to introduce a bill called the "Pandemic Anti-Monopoly Act" that would impose a moratorium on large mergers until the FTC "determines that small businesses, workers, and consumers" were "no longer under severe financial distress."
Still, that pledge hasn't quieted the growing chorus of congresspeople concerned over potential anti-competitive behavior from Facebook. In statements Friday, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Democrats Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) were skeptical of the deal. "Facebook keeps looking for even more ways to take our data," Hawley said in a statement to The Verge. "Just like Google purchased DoubleClick because of its widespread presence on the internet and ability to collect data, Facebook wants Giphy so it can collect even more data on us. Facebook shouldn't be acquiring any companies while it is under antitrust investigation for its past purchases." Democrats are planning to introduce a bill called the "Pandemic Anti-Monopoly Act" that would impose a moratorium on large mergers until the FTC "determines that small businesses, workers, and consumers" were "no longer under severe financial distress."
I would welcome a monopoly on animated GIFs (Score:2)
So long as the license includes a public flogging.
Re: I would welcome a monopoly on animated GIFs (Score:1)
Yes, yes, we know, you only like light gray on gray monocrome simplified stylized Courier ASCII. 80Ã--25. No bold. ;)
And on weekends, when you are really crazy, you wear a sports jacket in depression gray *melange!* (Trend 'color' of the decade!)
Although it might simply be stuffy dust on your regular one.
I'm taking bets. (Score:1)
Anyone wanna bet, how this could get any more ridiculous?
Because I'm at my wit's end.
Re: I'm taking bets. (Score:1)
Well, 400 mostly imaginary million.
I mean what does that say about the dollar you hold in your hand? Or your bank statement after you got your salary.
E.g. if it got paid with money made via this.
How much did they work for the sum they paid you this month? How much did you have to work? And given that massive discrepancy, should your salary not also be at least a few million a month, to be fair, compared to that?
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Anyone wanna bet, how this could get any more ridiculous?
Ask an we can deliver: https://giphy.com/gifs/debate-... [giphy.com]
Lol sure (Score:2)
In that same post, Facebook suggested that Giphy's core function as a GIF-sharing app across social media would not change and that developers would "continue to have the same access" to its services.
Lol, yeah sure they will.
They'll have the same access, it'll just cost more.
Yeah, Pull the OTHER One,Zuck! (Score:3)
"developers would "continue to have the same access" to its services."
I rate the expiration date of this statement to be 10 months or less. Zuck often promises that if you like the feature, you can keep the feature, but in a little under a year, the feature becomes unavailable.
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It's theater. The Democrats, especially, are big on this style of theater to make people believe they really want to crack down on big business. They'll hold a committee meeting, pull Zuck in and tease him a bit, shake their fingers menacingly, then go have champagne and caviar with him afterwards and laugh about the gullible suckers that voted them in.
Not that the Republicans are above doing the same type of thing. Just, at the moment, the Republicans have stopped even trying to put on the theater of ca
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I totally understand where you're coming from. I honestly expected to get modded into oblivion for not picking a side.
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First they came for (Score:4, Funny)
my Instagram but I did not speak out for I am a congresscritter not an influencer.
Then they came for my WhatsApp but I did not speak out for I use SMS.
Then they came for my Oculus, but I did not speak out because VR is for weirdos.
Then they came for GIFs... I'm going to kill these **********ers
Anti-trust? Over GIFs? How about Copyright? (Score:1)
Anti-trust for Giphy seems overkill, even to a hippie liberal like me who hates big corporations. I can think of a thousand reasons to go after Facebook, that wasn't one of them. I just figured they were waiting for GIPHY to sell so someone could make about a billion copyright claims. lol